LGBT POV

On Monday, former Miss California Carrie Prejean’s book Still Standing: The Untold Story Against Hate, Gossip and Political Attacks will hit bookstores and no doubt it will be snapped up by Perez Hilton and Prejean’s new-found Christian fans.

One person NOT looking forward to the expected frothy fuming over her being fired by the Miss California USA Pageant organization is the man who fired her – Keith Lewis. The openly gay pageant director is expected to be a bigger character in the factional account than “hated” celebrity gossip blogger Hilton, who asked her that now infamous question about same sex marriage to which Prejean responded

“I think it’s great that Americans are able to choose one or the other … same sex marriage or opposite marriage,” then added, “I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman … that’s how I was raised.”

I spoke with Keith Lewis on Oct. 20, after he filed a counter-suit to Prejean’s rather curious lawsuit claiming she was fired because of religious bigotry.  His lawsuit suit said she violated her contract with the organization and called for repayment for her breast implants.

On Tuesday, CBS News said that a settlement had been reached:

“A joint statement released Tuesday says Prejean and pageant organizers reached a confidential settlement on both legal fronts….

Their joint statement says Prejean and the pageant “wish each other the best in their future endeavors.”

During his interview with me, Lewis revealed the existence of sexually explicit photos or videotape involving Prejean, which TMZ confirmed they have in their possession. TMZ suggested that the settlement was reached BECAUSE of the sex tape:

“Carrie Prejean demanded more than a million dollars during her settlement negotiations with Miss California USA Pageant officials — that is, until the lawyer for the Pageant showed Carrie an XXX home video of her handiwork.

The video the lawyer showed Carrie is extremely graphic and has never been released publicly. We know that, because TMZ obtained the video months ago but decided not to post it because it was so racy. Let’s just say, Carrie has a promising solo career.

We’re told it took about 15 seconds for Carrie to jettison her demand and essentially walk away with nothing. As we first reported, the Pageant is paying around $100,000 to her lawyers and publicist — a fraction of her bills. She pockets nothing in the settlement.”

When called for confirmation of the settlement agreement, Lewis would only say:

“I can neither confirm nor deny anything to do with the settlement. But I will say I believe I was persecuted because of my sexuality by Charles LiMandri,” Prejean’s lawyer.

LiMandri appears to be a San Diego-based personal injury lawyer who also has written extensively on “the impact of same sex marriage on religious freedom.”

He is also the general counsel for the National Organization for Marriage – check out some of his handiwork here.

Lewis told me Wednesday night:

“I am not at liberty to confirm or deny the existence of any sex tape and I am unable to disclose the contents of the mediation. Suffice it to say, we are all pleased with the outcome and are moving forward. I’m glad that we were able to come to a resolution so quickly after we filed our counter claims.

I am looking forward to setting the record straight about what really happened. I’m getting ready to launch my own account of the last year, the last six months – and I remember it because so much of it was insane.”

He plans on calling his book Pageant Bitch.

Lewis also wouldn’t discuss the amount of money TMZ reported the Prejean camp was getting – but during our earlier interview he told me that he hoped for a settlement and expected that the pageant’s insurance company would at least pay legal expenses.

Lewis said the day of the mediation, he had a “wonderful breakfast” with openly gay sale representative Valerie Vetrano who told Star magazine that she and Carrie Prejean’s mother, Francine Coppola, “dated.”

Lewis said that Vetrano took a lie detector test for Star magazine to prove that her statement was true. Star magazine apparently did not require the same scrutiny of Francine Coppoloa when they printed her denial, Lewis said.

“This woman [Vetrano] took lie detector test for Star magazine about her physical relationship with Carrie’s mother. Looking back, I understand much better what [Carrie’s] issues were.  I better understand Carrie’s demons and what may be homophobia. But that still doesn’t justify her behavior. She’s an adult and she should act like one – which she has not done.”

Apparently the two older women spotted each other before the mediation took place in New York but they did not acknowledge each other.

Meanwhile, Radaronline reported Wednesday that LiMandri is threatening to sue over a breach of contract involving rumors of the sale of the sex tape.

LiMandri told Radaronline:

“In my 26 years of practice I have never dealt with a situation like this….It seems as if someone has acted in an unethical and unlawful manner by even raising this issue….We are weighing our options and if this is a breach of contract we are considering suing for punitive damages.”

Radaronline reported:

While he would not deny or confirm the existence of a sex tape, Limandri told RadarOnline.com: “In the agreement everyone agreed to deny previous claims and accusations.”

Ironically, it would appear that LiMandri breached the contract’s confidentiality obligation by disclosing what everyone agreed to do.

Lewis would not comment, except to concur with me that if LiMandri sued for breach of contract, the entire settlement agreement – which includes the sex tape – would more than likely come back into play.

Actually, E! Online explains that the tape has been making the rounds long before the mediation and settlement agreement:

“The tape actually began making the rounds several months ago and was offered as an exclusive to various websites for the bargain-basement price of $10,000.

But even blogger Nik Richie of the porn-purveying TheDirty.com didn’t want anything to do with it.

“It was very graphic,” Richie tells E! News, “and our lawyers wouldn’t let us put it on the site.”

No other site picked up the raunchfest, apparently shot by an ex-boyfriend and which Richie describes as far more explicit than the topless photos of Prejean that surfaced earlier.

Which explains why the tape’s reemergence this week reportedly took Prejean by surprise.”

Though Perez Hilton suggests through photo manipulation on his website that the XXX sex tape is of Prejean performing oral sex – clues in the TMZ report – “handiwork” and “solo act” – suggest the tape is an explicit visual of Prejean masturbating. In his report, Hilton says that no matter what the sex tape reveals, her church is standing by her.

So now the National Organization for Marriage stands for porn.