Why This Miss Universe Selfie Caused an International Uproar
From left: Miss Israel, Miss Lebanon, Miss Slovenia, and Miss Japan at a Miss Universe event in Miami. Photo: @doronmatalon/Instagram
We all know that beauty pageants are potentially the most catty environment in the world, but what happens when politics are at stake and seemingly harmless selfies become an international incident? Such was the case for Miss Lebanon Saly Greige who claims that Miss Israel Doron Matalon photobombed a group shot that also included Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan during a recent Miss Universe outing in Miami.
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Matalon posted the image, in which all four girls appear happy and smiling (dare we say happy?), on her Facebook page for all the world to see. Great for unity, right? Not so much. The image caused certain officials in Lebanon to ask Greige to step down even though the photo appears as harmless as can be. With her position threatened, Greige issued a formal apology on Facebook, mostly laying blame on Matalon. “Since the first day of my arrival to participate to Miss Universe, I was very cautious to avoid being in any photo or communication with Miss Israel (that tried several times to have a photo with me). I was having a photo with Miss Japan, Miss Slovenia and myself, suddenly Miss Israel jumped in, took a selfie, and put it on her social media.”
Getting photographed with the wrong people can put an unintentional pox on anyone’s reputation, but this in case there is much more at stake. The tension between Israel and Lebanon has been well documented. Things are tamer now, but as recently as 2006 the two countries were engaged in a full-on war.
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Greige is considered a diplomat of her country, and although there are non-profit organizations that aim to bridge this divide, clearly it is not yet feasible on the global stage. Forced to respond, Matalon wrote on her social media channels, “It doesn’t surprise me, but it still makes me sad. Too bad you can not put the hostility out of the game, only for three weeks of an experience of a lifetime that we can meet girls from around the world…” Though social media fueled the fire behind this debate, it also serves as an egalitarian forum to hopefully dissuade the issue just as quickly.
