Miss America Laura Kaeppeler Rips Toddlers & Tiaras, Child Pageant Culture
Miss America 2012, Laura Kaeppeler
Miss America Laura Kaeppeler knows a thing or two about beauty contests. The 24-year-old Wisconsin native, who was crowned in January, isn’t a big fan of the Toddlers & Tiaras / Here Comes Honey Boo Boo culture, however. “There’s a misconception that pageants are beauty pageants, but Miss America is a scholarship provider,” Kaeppeler told E! News Wednesday night. “We compete in talent and community service, so there’s a lot more to it.”
Laura says she only started competing in pageants two years ago, at age 22. She said Miss America is “about being a well-rounded young woman and an empowered female” and that child beauty pageants are pure exploitation. “I don’t agree with those sort of programs,” Kaeppeler said. “Because I don’t think it’s the child’s want to do that necessarily and the child engaging in that.” “I think it may come from an outside source. I think if you’re going to do something like [competing in pageants], you should do it because you want to.”
Courtesy of Hollywood Gossip
2013 Miss America Pageant to Air on ABC, Jan 12
ABC Television Network and Sam Haskell, Chairman of the Board of the Miss America Organization, have announced that “The 2013 Miss America Competition” returns to Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas for a week of preliminary competitions, culminating in a live telecast on SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 2013 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on ABC.
“The 2012 Miss America telecast on ABC was a tremendous success, taking the ratings crown as the most-watched non-sports program on Saturday night,” said Haskell. “With the success of our re-branding Miss America, we have attracted a new audience. We look forward to working with ABC and Planet Hollywood to make the 2013 broadcast event even more memorable for our viewers.”
The three nights of preliminaries will take place on January 8, 9 & 10 at Planet Hollywood’s PH Live Tickets for the preliminaries, as well as the Miss America live event, will be available soon. For information on ticket sales visit http://www.missamerica.org. Laura Kaeppeler, of Kenosha, Wisconsin is Miss America 2012.
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