HotmailPageant rules Miss N.J. can keep crown
Amy Polumbo will continue her reign, despite photos
 | MSNBC video |
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'Amy Polumbo should continue her reign' July 12: Officials from the Miss New Jersey and Miss America pageants announce they have decided to allow Amy Polumbo to continue serving as Miss New Jersey, despite the release of embarrassing photographs. MSNBC |
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| NBC News video |
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Miss N.J.: ‘I want to end this’ July 12: Amy Polumbo shows TODAY's Matt Lauer the online photos she claims are being used to blackmail her. Today show |
Miss New Jersey can keep her crown despite photos that show her acting "not in a ladylike manner."
Hours after a nervous Amy Polumbo went public Thursday with photos of herself that had been sent anonymously to pageant officials, those officials decided the pictures did not merit stripping her of the title.
"I'm very happy about this decision, and I look forward to resuming my agenda as Miss New Jersey," said a smiling Polumbo, who blew kisses to audience members during the announcement.
The beauty pageant winner apologized for the trouble the pictures had caused and thanked the pageant board for its support.
"I want to thank the public," Polumbo said. "I also want to thank God for getting me through this."
The pictures include one showing what Polumbo said was her boyfriend apparently biting her breast through her shirt, another of Polumbo in a limousine wearing jeans with her legs spread in the air and another of her in what appears to be a Halloween costume dress holding two small pumpkins up to her breasts.
"It's not in a ladylike manner. I'm not a robot. I'm a human being," Polumbo said.
There were also photos of Polumbo drinking, but the 22-year-old college student said she was of legal age when they were taken.
Polumbo earlier said she didn't think the pictures should lead to the loss of her crown but said other people might interpret them differently.
"What I think is OK, someone else's eyebrows could be raised," she said.
Polumbo's lawyer, Anthony Caruso, said that a person or persons claiming to be The Committee to Save Miss America threatened to make the photos public unless she resigned her title.
Polumbo will represent the Garden State in the next Miss America pageant, which has yet to be scheduled.
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