Miss Universe has officially suspended the organizers of Miss USA after scandal roiled the pageant with claims that its “woke” overlords “predetermined” a winner from Texas because she was Filipino, rigging the contest.
Mikala McGhee, who is Miss Missouri, told the Daily Mail in an interview on Wednesday that Miss Brand Corp., which runs the pageant, has been suspended following allegations that R’Bonney Gabriel of Houston, Texas was the “predetermined winner.”
The suspension has not been announced publicly yet. But McGhee and the other contestants were told about the decision via email from the pageant bosses.
“We are appreciative of the cooperation we’ve seen from Miss USA Director Crystle Stewart as we work through this process,” the email reportedly stated.
The NEW #MissUSA is… R'Bonney Gabriel from TEXAS! 🎉 #RBonneyGabriel #MissUSA2022 #MissTexasUSA pic.twitter.com/wWTUhtI0a6
— Miss Universe (@MissUniverse) October 5, 2022
“We are aware of the concerns that have been brought forth by this year’s Miss USA contestants,” Miss Universe told the New York Post in an emailed statement. “We commend the women for bringing these issues to our attention and will always be an organization that encourages women to use their voice.”
An internal probe into the pageant is being conducted by the law firm Holland & Knight.
“There has been no formal statement that has really come out about that, but we have been relayed that information that they have been suspended, so we have not had any direct communication with Crystle Stewart,” McGhee remarked.
Miss USA was crowned on October 3 and rumors began to swirl about the legitimacy. Contestants walked off stage in protest, leaving fans and beauty queens wondering if Gabriel’s win was rigged.
Gabriel is the first Filipina to be crowned. Contestants are accusing Miss USA of being “woke,” giving her preferential treatment and selecting her as the winner because she is Filipino. They also assert it has to do with her being from Texas.
Stewart won the pageant in 2008 and took over in 2020. She is from Houston and also owns Miss Academy, which is a pageant training course based there. The owner of Miss Brand, which owns the pageant, is also based in Texas.
“I think this is a big issue that a lot of us are trying to bring light to is the fact [Stewart] owns so much of the organization. She owns the main organization, Miss USA, and she also owns the main sponsor of the organization which is a big issue we all have with it,: Miss Montana, Heather Lee O’Keefe, told the Daily Mail in an interview. “Miss Academy sponsored Miss Texas much more than they sponsored the rest of us contestants.”
Miss Academy classes can run up to $14,000 and many contestants claim that Gabriel received free training after winning Miss Texas. The other girls were offered free online classes but were highly encouraged to do in-person training.
‘[Contestants] felt the need to do that because of the fact that it was a national sponsor, and we felt pressured that if we wanted to do well at Miss USA, we had to work with Miss Academy and pay that money out of our own pocket to do so.’
The Texas beauty has denied the accusations being leveled against her and claims there was “no unfair advantage” and she “would never enter any pageant or any competition that I would know I would win.”
(Video Credit: E! News)
“[I heard] they were saying that there was a sabotage list, or that R’Bonney has already been preselected to win,” McGhee recounted. “It was really just amongst contestants where I was hearing the gossip again coming in.”
“I was completely ignoring it because I was like this is a competition. I get it, you know. Stress can be high, you know, it becomes a little bit of like the intimidation factor. Are you trying to throw people off their game? You know I was really looking at it kind of from a sports world perspective,” she added.
“But again, when you get there, and you start seeing some of the behavior that was displayed at Miss USA week, you know it made me take a step back, and really kind of reconsider. Well, what really was going on was, were these rumors true? And if so, why are we wasting our time?” McGhee continued.
(Video Credit: The Daily Mail)
“I feel like, and a lot of other contestants feel like, they had already predetermined the winner. We were just there as puppets to put on this show for them to make it seem like there was a pageant,” O’Keefe asserted. “That’s how we feel. That’s our own opinion.”
“That’s who they wanted their girl to be, and if that’s the case, just say it,” she told the Daily Mail, referring to Gabriel’s win.
Stewart’s husband is also caught up in sexual misconduct allegations thrown at him by the Class of 2021. He was accused of sexually harassing “young models” and sending a video of his penis to a former contestant in 2018.
Miss USA Vice President Max Sebrechts resigned from the board in January after he was accused of being a sexual predator.
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