Ex-Miss California may sue pageant boss

LOS ANGELES, June 19 (UPI) -- Carrie Prejean's attorney said he will sue the Miss California USA pageant's executive director if he doesn't retract remarks he made about Prejean.

Pageant boss Keith Lewis said Prejean was stripped of her Miss California title last week because she was uncooperative, violated her contract and missed some public appearances.

Lewis told CNN's Larry King it was clear Prejean didn't want input from pageant officials and "she was not interested in upholding the title or the responsibilities" that accompany it.

Prejean's lawyer, Charles LiMandri, sent a letter Thursday to Lewis's attorney accusing Lewis of sullying Prejean's reputation and causing her "severe emotional distress," CNN said.

LiMandri reportedly also referred to Lewis as a gay activist and accused him of pushing for Prejean's firing because she opposes same-sex marriage.

"Carrie Prejean's good name has been tarnished by your client's false and defamatory accusations," CNN quoted LiMandri's letter to Lewis's lawyer as saying.

"Please view this letter as a last opportunity for Mr. Lewis to retract the defamatory statements made against my client and to seek to restore her good name," LiMandri said. "If he does not comply, I will have no alternative but to recommend that Ms. Prejean proceed to do so through litigation."