Donald Trump to Decide Carrie Prejean's Fate

May 11, 2009 — -- Like past beauty queens, B-list celebrities and would-be business moguls, the fate of Miss California Carrie Prejean rests in the hands of Donald Trump.

At a press conference Monday, Shanna Moakler and Keith Lewis, co-directors of Miss California USA, said Trump, the co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization, will make the call on whether the scandal-scarred beauty queen gets to keep her crown.

Lewis and Moakler also unveiled a new PSA promoting the Miss California USA organization and appointed the pageant's first runner up, Tami Farrell, the organization's ambassador, effectively negating Prejean's role as the face of Miss California USA. Lewis asserted he wants to move on from Prejean and "get back to the business of beauty."

Trump is scheduled to hold a press conference regarding Prejean in New York Tuesday.

"If Miss California is unavailable, or if it would be unwise to put her in a specific appearance, we now have an ambassador to represent us," Lewis said, explaining his reasons for appointing Farrell ambassador. "We've been hijacked at the moment; we've been unable to do the work at hand."

Lewis and Moakler added that Prejean has missed Miss California USA appearances since participating in the Miss USA 2009 pageant, despite the fact that she's found time to travel the country talking about her views on marriage. Prejean, 21, started a media sensation when she spoke out against "opposite marraige" at the 2009 Miss USA pageant in April.

Prejean came under further scrutiny last week after semi-nude photos of her purportedly taken when she was a teenager emerged. Her contract contains a clause that asks participants whether they have conducted themselves "in accordance with the highest ethical and moral standards." For example, it asks if they have ever been photographed nude or partially nude.

The beauty queen may also have violated her contract by working for a group that opposes gay marriage and making publicly speaking out against it. Last week, pageant officials said they were looking into whether Prejean violated the 12-page contract all contestants are required to sign before the November state contest.

The document prohibits whoever holds the title of Miss California from making personal appearances, granting interviews or making commercials without permission from pageant officials and gives the pageant's directors the right to revoke her crown for breaching any of the document's provisions.

Since being chosen runner-up at the Miss USA 2009 pageant, Prejean has made televised appearances at her San Diego church and on behalf of the National Organization for Marriage, a group that is opposed to same-sex marriage.

An advertisement the group created based on Prejean's controversial answer at the Miss USA pageant about whether she supported gay marriage remains on the NOM Web site, despite a written request from the Miss Universe Organization, which owns the Miss USA pageant, to remove it.

It's not the first time Trump will have to make the call on whether a scandalized beauty queen gets to keep her title. He faced a similar situation in 2006, when Miss USA Tara Conner came under scrutiny for reports of underage drinking and inappropriate behavior at bars. Trump ended up letting her keep her crown provided she go to rehab.