Beverly Hills condemns “Miss Beverly Hills”

Timothy Kincaid

February 24th, 2010

lauren ashleyWhen I first saw the pictures of Lauren Ashley, Miss Beverly Hills, I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” I’ve seen many a girl from Beverly Hills and, well, let’s just say that her look, her style, and her (ahem) body image are not really what Beverly Hills might consider to be appropriate for a beauty queen. Just saying.

So I went searching for any notice of Miss Ashley winning a local competition; but no success. Then I tried the Miss California USA site – where I saw that one could apply on their own without a city sponsor, which I thought was peculiar.

But I remember that Carrie Prejean was legitimately Miss San Diego so perhaps…? Anyway, I gave Lauren the benefit of the doubt.

Now I just have to laugh at myself.

Because when Lauren decided to go for her minute and a half of fame, she went all out. Not only did she declare her opposition to marriage (sure to get attention) but she also adopted a high profile city.

Alas, poor girl. The City of Beverly Hills was not as amused. They issued a press release:

City of Beverly Hills Disavows Miss California USA Contestant\’s Statements

Beverly Hills, CA – The City of Beverly Hills today denounced statements made by Miss California USA contestant Lauren Ashley, the self-described Miss Beverly Hills. Ms. Ashley resides in Pasadena and is currently a contestant for the Miss California USA title. She does not represent Beverly Hills in any capacity.

The City of Beverly Hills strongly condemns Ms. Ashley\’s recent statements and has contacted pageant officials to determine ways to formally prevent any beauty contestants claiming the title of Miss Beverly Hills in the future. The City of Beverly Hills does not sponsor a beauty pageant and has no association with Miss California USA. As such, there should be no individual claiming the title of Miss Beverly Hills.

“The City Council was shocked to see statements made by a beauty pageant contestant under the name of Beverly Hills who does not live in nor represent our city. We are dismayed by any potential association with the City of Beverly Hills, which has a long history of tolerance and respect,” said Beverly Hills Mayor Nancy Krasne.

Ya see, Beverly Hills likes its gay marriages. It voted 66% to 34% against Proposition 8 and isn’t really known for its conservative Christian population. And I am sure that Mayor Krasne took one look at Ms. Ashley’s lovely ensemble of red stretch top, ill-fitting jeans, white wedges and floppy hat and thought, “What’s going on? We don’t have any trailer parks within city limits!”

But I see another problem lurking. Now Pasadena is implicated in Ms. Ashley’s publicity prank. And while not as liberal as Beverly Hills (they voted against Prop 8 by 58% to 42%), they do pride themselves in having good taste.

Ray

February 24th, 2010

I love a happy ending.

Harriet M.

February 24th, 2010

I think your comment about “we don’t have any trailer parks within city limits” is obnoxious and unfortunate. I guess “classist” might describe comments that insult the poor and their clothing, on which they obviously don’t have much money to spend. I hope to see nicer writing on your site in the future.

Mike Tidmus

February 24th, 2010

As a proud resident of San Diego, I feel compelled to point out that Carrie Prejean was Miss La Jolla and she’s from Vista, which is north of the City of San Diego.

John

February 24th, 2010

Maybe she can run as Miss not-Beverly Hills.

Up til now, I had no idea how much Miss Suzanne Sugarbaker had to put up with competing in all those beauty pagents. Gives me a whole new level of respect for her.

AJD

February 24th, 2010

I’m sure she could still run for the Miss Butterface USA title… But I think “butterface” is being a little too nice.

Lucrece

February 24th, 2010

Can you lay off the snipes at her appearance as a way to denigrate a woman? Thanks.

This isn’t just referring to the post, but the commenters as well.

She’s an insipid idiot, and I’d rather evaluate her on her intellectual incompetence rather than something as completely irrelevant as looks.

johnathan

February 24th, 2010

Harriet: Granted, the writing style can be classified as “classist.” With that in mind, how many beauty pagent contestants do you know who have their picture taken while wearing the clothing and with the hairstyle/makeup of said Lauren Ashley? Generally, the stylings beauty contestants are representative of a class of persons — for better or worse — not presented by Ms. Ashley’s stylings (as indicated in her released photograph). Perhaps she normally dresses differently, but the current photograph does not present — in my opinion only — such an image.

David

February 24th, 2010

The whole thing seems more like an Onion parody than reality, and yet, sadly, apparently Ms. Ashley isn’t joking.

Burr

February 24th, 2010

Lying for Jesus. Endorsed by beauty queens (and empty heads) everywhere!

John

February 24th, 2010

Just as the overwhelming majority of the commenters in the post, I did not comment on Miss faux-Beverly Hills’ looks or style. As a gay man, I honestly couldn’t care less.

However, beauty contests are primarily about looks, style and whatever few points you could score from your particular talent and how you answer one or two very short questions. So, someone entering said beauty contests should expect to be judged at some point on their looks and their style. In fact, they are literally inviting such judgements. Just saying…

werdna

February 25th, 2010

+1 to Harriet M. and Lucrece and others for pointing out the crass and unnecessary elements in this post and some of the comments.

That aside, is there any reason to believe that Lauren Ashley is for real in any regard? I mean, is this a prank on Fox News (the original source of the interview)? A parody of hypocritical, judgmental beauty queens? My first question on hearing this update was, “which art school does she go to?”

CB

February 25th, 2010

I doubt they can do it, but if they could, it would be funny if the city charged her with misrepresenting the city and slander. In turn, FOX News should be taken to task for another news blunder! Weren’t they all over CBS and Dan Rather when they did a report on GW Bush and his military credentials? While CBS defamed one individual with their report, FOX News did/does it to the LGBT community on a regular basis, and this is just another instance.

werdna

February 25th, 2010

Re: Miss Ashley’s claim to be “Miss Beverly Hills USA”, TMZ writes :

Representatives at the Miss California USA pageant told TMZ that contestants were allowed to choose which area of the state they represented, and as long as they added the letters “USA” to the end of the title, it didn’t have to be approved by the city.

Ben Mathis

February 25th, 2010

What do her looks have to do with her opinion? Her opinion is disgusting because of it’s contents, be she beautiful or ugly. I’d love to see less patriarchy on my gay blog, but maybe that’s too much to ask.

Emily K

February 25th, 2010

Tim, I’d expect such catty remarks about this girl’s appearance from perez hilton, but not you – not from an author representing BTB.

TJMcFisty

February 25th, 2010

In defense of Tim, it’s not mean if it’s true. She is wearing that bad outfit and poorly posing for a promo picture repping Beverly Hills for a beauty pageant. Her looks and her comments are totally fair game.

This is what happens when you put yourself out there in the spotlight, and Tim should be allowed to be as catty as he damn well wants to be. Gay man. Gay blog. It happens.

Timothy Kincaid

February 25th, 2010

Now, now, folks.

Ms. Ashley wasn’t calling herself Miss Redding or Miss Campbell. She chose to associate with Beverly Hills. And let’s not pretend that Beverly Hills doesn’t have a reputation: rich, skinny, flawless makeup, and designer clothes.

She decided that it was on this image that she wanted to be judged. I merely accomodated.

:)

William

February 25th, 2010

Jeans, or trousers of any kind, are properly a male garment.

According to Deuteronomy 22:5, a woman wearing men’s clothes is an abomination to the Lord.

Nevada Blue

February 25th, 2010

I generally hate derogatory comments on appearances (if you don’t have to f*ck them, who cares). But I make exception for beauty contestants. I’m just doing what they ask their audience to do.

I think beauty contests are rot, but the people in them take them very seriously, and they judge on beauty, grace and poise. I bet if you asked anyone in the industry they’d tell you that class plays a big factor. All looks aside, there is no way that woman is going to win anything now. She displayed an incredible lack of class. Not just her tacky clothes, not just the stupid sh!t that fell from her mouth, not just because this came out in an interview with Pop Tart (talk about class), but also her willingness to misrepresent herself (whether or not abiding by the rules of the contest). And I bet there will be a change of rules for the contest very soon, though a spokesman said no changes planned.

Were some of Tim’s remarks classist. Yes they were, in my opinion. But to assume its classist in a sense of wealth, I just don’t buy at all. I usually assume there is money behind any contestant because its needed to win these days. But even if I’m wrong, I can assure you that poor women (and I am one) would not take kindly to being put in the same class as Ashley Lauren.

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