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Accusations of racism, sexual harassment, and manipulation have plagued the organization for years, but no protective champion has ever resigned. Then, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA resigned the same week.
By Madison Malone Kircher and Callie Holtermann
Reporters spoke with more than two dozen insiders, including Miss USA and Miss Teen USA contestants, and pageant directors.
Laylah Rose says she won her first pageant at the age of 2. With shiny black hair and a measured smile, she has participated in many other contests. However, even when she was little, she dreamed of something bigger. Rose didn’t just need to wear a scarf, as her mother and grandmother had done before her: she wanted to be Miss USA.
Last summer, Ms. Rose, 45, whose legal representative is Laylah Loiczly, nevertheless achieved that goal. In an email, he said he sees “opportunities to improve, value and, in many tactics, fix the iconic brand. “
Surely this maintenance was necessary. In recent years, Miss USA has faced accusations of racism and sexual harassment and has been moving from owner to owner, one of them being Donald J. Trump. The suicide of Miss USA 2019 in 2022 has shaken the organization. In 2023, Rose’s predecessor suspended following allegations of contest manipulation.
In her first few months at the helm of the pageant, Rose loved the paintings (she bought the rights to run Miss USA for an upfront payment of $1. 5 million, according to an initial filing). It helped secure a multi-year contest. She dealt with The CW to broadcast the Miss USA pageant for the first time since 2016. In an interview, Renato Basile, a Hollywood producer he hired to work on the production, credited him with “bringing the shine back to Miss USA and Miss Teen. “”
But less than a year into Rose’s tenure as president and CEO of the organization, current Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, Noelia Voigt and UmaSofia Srivastava, resigned a few days later. In the competition’s seven-decade history, no winner has ever come to the top.
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