Amid Miss USA fallout, a pageant struggles to fill its crowns
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An unprecedented series of abdications has upended the line of succession within the Miss Universe organization, bringing fresh chaos to a 73-year-old pageant outfit that has been plagued in recent years by leadership shake-ups, financial troubles, and accusations of cheating and toxicity.
The organization has been rushing to fill two of its most eminent crowns after Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava stepped down last week and offered harsh criticism of pageant executives. It also has spurred at least one more resignation: Arianna Lemus on Friday announced she would relinquish her crown as Miss Colorado USA.
Pageant organizers quickly found a replacement for Voigt. Savannah Gankiewicz of Hawaii, who was the first runner-up for Miss USA in last year’s contest, assumed the national title from Voigt during a celebratory coronation Wednesday. But the Miss Teen USA throne remains empty after Stephanie Skinner - runner-up for Miss New York Teen USA - announced she would pass up the position vacated by Srivastava.
“In light of recent events, I have decided to decline the title of Miss Teen USA 2023,” Skinner wrote in an Instagram post Monday. “This was not an easy decision. I hope for respect of my choice as this was a decision I never asked to make.”
This month’s crisis ignited when Voigt, 24, posted a cryptic resignation announcement May 6, citing mental health reasons for her departure three months ahead of schedule. She didn’t criticize the pageant in her post, but commenters noticed that the first letters of its first 11 sentences spelled out “I AM SILENCED.”
Voigt’s eight-page resignation letter subsequently leaked to news outlets, alleging a toxic work environment at Miss Universe that “at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment.” She also accused Miss USA president, owner and CEO, Laylah Rose, of “actively building a culture of fear and control.”
Days later, Srivastava, 16, announced on Instagram that she would be giving up the Miss Teen USA title because “I find that my personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.” She also quoted Nietzche: “There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.”
Denise White, a PR representative for Voigt and Srivastava, told The Washington Post that the women did not coordinate their resignations. “They have no intentions of suing for anything at this moment. What they really want is to see some action,” said White, who said she was pulled into the situation months ago to help counsel the women about their issues with Rose.
“A lot of these people were having problems with Laylah before the girls stepped down,” she said. “They just didn’t say anything publicly because most of these [pageant directors] that run these state titles, this is their livelihood.”
The alleged mistreatment of the women has created continuing fallout for the organization, as some insiders who worked with the contestants have spoken out to support them.
“I have seen plenty of receipts of the abusive, oppressive way that she was being managed and dealt with,” Thom Brodeur, one of Voigt’s pageant coaches, told The Post.
Miss USA’s social media director, Claudia Engelhardt, resigned days before Voigt and Srivastava’s departures, writing on Instagram that she had worked without pay for two months after being hired. “I believe Noelia’s and Uma’s mental health and happiness have taken a toll, and I can’t support that,” Engelhardt added.
In her resignation letter, Voigt wrote that the organization failed to support her after she was sexually harassed by her driver at a Christmas parade in Florida last year. The Miss USA Organization also failed to make good on her prize winnings, the letter states.
“I am now diagnosed with Anxiety and have to take two medications daily to manage the symptoms due to consistently being on edge, worrying about what Laylah will pop up with and choose to harass me about daily,” she wrote.
White told The Post that Voight tried for months to voice her concerns to management, which was only interested in protecting the CEO. “The Miss Universe organization has steadfast said that they are supporting Laylah through this, and they are not taking any action,” White said.
The Miss USA Organization did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment. Neither did Rose, who became the new owner and CEO of its Miss USA brand in late 2023, following a troubled period in which it faced allegations of rigging and the organization’s owner, JKN Global Group, filed for bankruptcy just days before the pageant.
During Gankiewicz’s coronation as Miss USA in Hawaii on Wednesday, Rose made her first official appearance since the wave of resignations. She welcomed Gankiewicz to the organization’s family and thanked her corporate partners and sponsors for their “unwavering support.”
Ironclad nondisclosure agreements have reportedly barred pageant contestants from speaking freely about their experiences in the organization, prompting calls for transparency from other titleholders.
“I want to see transparency with the Miss USA organization and I am calling for management to release the ladies from [their] NDA,” Lemus wrote in an email to The Post, after giving up the Miss Colorado crown last week. “If there’s nothing to hide then that shouldn’t be a problem.”
The fallout also puts the organization’s broadcast deals at risk. The CW, which had recently announced a three-year contract extension to air the pageants, is now reconsidering its partnership. “In light of the events of last week, The CW Network is evaluating its relationship with both pageants,” the broadcaster told NPR in a statement Tuesday. (The 73rd Miss USA pageant is scheduled to air live Aug. 4, and its companion pageant, Miss Teen USA, will air Aug. 1).
“It’s a horrible culture,” White said, adding that the organization has dramatically declined since the departure of Paula Shugart in November, who served as president of the Miss Universe Organization for almost 23 years.
Back then, “there might have been … little hiccups along the way, but nothing like this. It was run like a business,” White said. “It’s unprecedented what the Miss Universe Organization is not doing in this situation.”
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