The Miss Universe Organization investigates Miss USA President Crystle Stewart after claims of manipulating the October competition surfaced.
Stewart is the CEO of Miss Brand Corporation. She conducts the annual Miss Universe USA competition in coordination with the firm. Since its inception, the United States has won eight Miss Universe crowns. It includes Miriam Stevenson (1954), Carol Morris (1956), Linda Bement (1960), Sylvia Louise Hitchcock (1967), Shawn Weatherly (1980), Chelsi Smith (1995), Brook Lee (1997), and Olivia Culpo (2012).
“After thorough deliberation, Miss Universe Organization has decided to suspend Miss Brand immediately. Miss Universe Organization will be taking over the Miss USA program while a comprehensive,” said the Miss Universe Organization.
Meanwhile, Stewart promised the public that she would help with the inquiry. She also stated that she wanted to guarantee a fair inquiry. She then dismissed the charges by various pageant participants against her.
“The current allegations that the 2022 Miss USA pageant favored one contestant over another are misleading and simply not factual. The last thing I would ever want to do is discredit or deny the contestants an equal opportunity to a fair competition. Furthermore, I would never jeopardize my dream of running an organization that empowers these young women,” she stated.
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A Miss Universe favorite
The Miss USA organization crowned a winner on October 3rd, with R’Bonney Gabriel claiming the title. Her victory qualified her to represent the country in this year’s Miss Universe competition. Other Miss USA contestants, on the other hand, resorted to social media to voice their disappointment with the outcome. According to them, the group staged the pageant, openly favoring Gabriel and resulting in her crowning.
Laa O’Keefe, a Miss USA contender from Montana, shared a TikTok video in which she described Gabriel visiting a spa operated by a sponsor. Gabriel responded to the video by explaining that the spa was one of the sponsors when she was crowned Miss USA Texas. Furthermore, she paid for the service and occurred to film a video during her visit to the spa.
“We can’t blame this girl, and it’s really sad because her performance was amazing, and she probably could have won fair and square. But, the issue is not with Miss Texas or R’Bonney winning. The issue is with the alleged corruption of the Miss USA organization,” said O’Keefe.
“I want to start by saying it was not rigged because I would never enter any pageant or any competition that I know I would win. I have a lot of integrity,” Gabriel answered.
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To clear her name
Gabriel stated in one interview that she remaines prepared to answer any questions. Furthermore, she is sure that the organization will remedy the dispute and that she will contact all people concerned to vindicate her identity and defend her crown.
“I think I’m open to talking to her about it. And I would love to communicate with her because I think there’s a lot of allegations coming up that aren’t true,” she said.
“I will talk to anybody because I want to be transparent, and I want everybody to know that there was no unfair advantage and nothing was rigged, and as a titleholder and as Miss USA, I don’t want girls to think that this is how pageantry works. This is to celebrate women. We work very hard, and I have respect for all the women that showed up on that stage.”
Photo Credit: Miss USA
Source: CNN
