Out of the Ordinary
Melissa King, Miss Delaware Teen USA, resigns in response to porn scandal
Meredith Dobes
Melissa King, crowned Miss Delaware Teen USA in November, resigned her title yesterday after facing accusations that she appeared in a porn video released on an online website.
The website in question, which Gawker reports as GirlsDoPorn.com, claims Melissa King is the woman in the video and posted King’s Miss Delaware Teen USA picture next to the video. The woman in the video reportedly sounds and looks like King.
King, 18, repeatedly denied the claims in interviews, admitting that the woman in the video looks like her but is not her.
“There are comments saying this, however, it’s not comments that are true,” King told Delaware Online.
King’s attorney, J. Gregory Hannigan, said in an email to Delaware Online, “A statement will be issued, but not today. Thank you for your interest in Ms. King’s wellbeing.”
In the interview portion of the video, the woman said she has participated in beauty pageants, turned 18 in March, which is the month of King’s birthday, and wanted to make the video because it would be fun and a way to make money.
In the video, the man’s face is never shown.
The Miss Teen USA pageant is a part of the Miss Universe pageant, which has seen many sex scandals before. According to Delaware Online, in 2005, Miss Delaware USA, Sheena Benton, was allowed to keep her title after a record of her guilty plea for drunk driving in 2004 surfaced.
Miss Delaware Teen USA runner-up Hailey Lawler will take over King’s title in lieu of the resignation.
