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Watch: Miss America CEO Finally Apologizes to Vanessa Williams

Watch her emotional reaction

liz-raftery.jpg
Liz Raftery

More than 30 years after she was forced to resign from the Miss America Organization thanks to a nude photo scandal, Vanessa Williams finally got an apology from the group's CEO on Sunday night about the way the controversy was handled.

Williams, who was a judge at Sunday's 2015 pageant, became the first black woman to win the Miss America crown in 1983, but resigned 10 months later after Penthouse magazine published nude photos of her that were taken before the pageant.

"You have lived your life in grace and dignity, and never was it more evident than during the events of 1984 when you resigned," Miss America CEO Sam Haskell told Williams during the 2016 pageant, which aired Sunday night. "Though none of us currently in the organization were involved then, on behalf of today's organization, I want to apologize to you and to your mother, Miss Helen Williams. I want to apologize for anything that was said or done that made you feel any less than the Miss America you are and the Miss America you always will be."

A visibly emotional Williams accepted Haskell's mea culpa, before she went on to crown Betty Cantrell of Georgia, 21, the new Miss America.

Watch video of the apology here: