Disgraced Miss Nevada USA thanks supporters Dec. 23: Katie Rees holds a
news conference to explain her side of the controversy that led to her dismissal
as Miss Nevada.Miss Nevada Fired Over Naughty Pix in this Miss NEVADA VIDEO
Katie Rees Stripped Of Title After 5 years old
Photos Released On Web
Former Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees, dethroned over raunchy photos posted
online, faces reporters while flanked by her attorney Mario E. Torres III, in
Clearwater, Fla., Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006. (AP)
Another Miss USA contestant has taken a tumble.
Miss Nevada USA was stripped of her title Thursday after racy photos of her
appeared on the Internet, pageant officials said. Some of the photos show Katie
Rees, 22, kissing other young women, exposing one of her breasts and pulling
down her pants to show her thong underwear at a party in Tampa, Fla.
"Katie Rees has been relieved of her duties as Miss Nevada USA 2007,"
said Paula M. Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization, which owns
the Miss USA pageant and others.
Rees' dismissal comes two days after Miss USA Tara Conner was allowed to keep
her tiara when she agreed to go into alcohol rehab and a day after an
anti-drunken driving group cut its ties with hard-partying Miss Teen USA Katie
Blair.
Pageant officials declined to provide a telephone number for Rees and said
they didn't know when the photos of her were taken.
Rees' attorney, Mario Torres, of Tampa, defended the blonde beauty queen in a
statement sent to the entertainment television show "Extra."
"Katie Rees Miss Nevada USA wants the public to know she was 17 and had a
lapse in judgment," he said. "The actions on that evening in subject
are in no way indicative of the person she is or the person she has become. ...
She is a law-abiding citizen and talented adult. This was an isolated incident
that occurred more than five years ago when she was a minor."
Shugart made the decision to jettison Rees, and pageant co-owner Donald Trump
supported it, said Miss Universe Organization spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton.
Trump, who co-owns Miss Universe with NBC, gave Conner, 21, a second chance
after meeting with her Tuesday. Trump said Conner, who agreed to undergo drug
testing, was a good person with a good heart and deserved to keep her title.
"I think Tara is going to be the great comeback kid," Trump said
during his televised announcement, with a teary-eyed Conner by his side.
Apparently, there will be no comeback for Rees, whose reign was truncated
because of the photos.
Rees has appeared as Miss Nevada USA at charity events such as the Goodie Two
Shoe Giveaway, at which underprivileged students received free shoes, backpacks
and school supplies.
Shugart said first runner-up Helen Salas will assume the title and compete at
the next Miss USA pageant on March 23 in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, Mothers Against Drunk Driving announced it was ditching Blair, the
Miss Teen USA, because it was "disappointed" by news reports that the
18-year-old from Billings, Mont., had been spotted partying with Miss USA in New
York clubs.
Ex-Miss Nevada Wants A Second Chance
Katie Rees Apologizes For Raunchy Photos, Claims It
Was An Isolated Incident
The former Miss Nevada USA, dethroned over raunchy photos posted online,
apologized Saturday as her attorney pleaded for the pageant queen to be given a
second chance.
Katie Rees, who appeared in photos revealing a breast, exposing her thong
underwear and kissing other young women at a party in Tampa, said her behavior
was an "isolated incident."
"I am so sorry this happened," she said at a news conference in
Clearwater, reading a prepared statement. "So many of us don't realize how
our actions, even one night of poor judgment, can affect the rest of our
lives."
Her attorney, Mario Torres of Tampa, asked that Miss Universe Organization
co-owner Donald Trump grant Rees the same opportunity he gave Miss USA Tara
Conner, who was allowed to keep her tiara after she tearfully admitted drinking
as a minor at New York nightclubs. The Miss Universe Organization owns the Miss
USA pageant and others.
"He always believes in second chances," Torres said of Trump. "We
are asking for that and plead that he answer our call, allow us to meet with him
and allow us to defend ourselves."
A Miss Universe spokeswoman has said organization president Paula Shugart made
the decision to strip Rees of her title and Trump supported it. An e-mail sent
to a secretary for Trump was not immediately answered Saturday.
Shugart has said first runner-up Helen Salas will assume the Miss Nevada title
and compete at the next Miss USA pageant on March 23 in Los Angeles.
The person who posted the pictures of Rees should "in some way be held
accountable," said Torres, adding that could involve legal action.
The photographer, a friend of Rees, was not identified.
Torres had previously said the photos of his client were taken when she was 17,
but said Saturday they were taken three years ago, when she was 19.
"These images were from an isolated incident during my teenage years, long
before my consideration to compete in the Miss USA program," Rees said.
"While I take full responsibility for the photographs, I just want everyone
to know the truth: This incident does not represent who I am."
Rees and Conner are not the only pageant queens whose behavior has been
questioned lately. On Wednesday, Mothers Against Drunk Driving announced it was
severing ties with Miss Teen USA Katie Blair over news reports that the
18-year-old from Billings, Mont., had been spotted partying with Miss USA in New
York clubs.
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Former Miss Nevada USA Katie Rees, dethroned over raunchy photos posted
online, faces reporters while flanked by her attorney Mario E. Torres III, in
Clearwater, Fla., Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006. (AP)
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