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Beauty queens from across the country descended on Los Angeles this weekend for the 73rd annual Miss USA pageant – but the lead-up to this year’s competition has been far from picture perfect.
The storied pageant has been embroiled in public controversy since early May, when Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava resigned from the competition within 72 hours of each other. Voigt and Srivastava’s messages were cryptic; in Voigt’s statement, readers spotted “I am silenced” within the body of her post.
Behind the scenes, tensions have reportedly persisted even longer – with many state-level pageant directors alleging that the organization’s president and CEO, Laylah Rose, pressured them into signing NDAs and funneling increased entry fees to the highest levels of the American competition, according to a Business Insider investigation.
Miss USA 2024 will be crowned on Sunday evening, in a ceremony held in Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater and broadcast on the CW. Here’s what to know about the pageant and the associated controversy before the competition comes to an end this weekend.
A new set of rules, for a new era
Even without the ongoing controversies, this year’s Miss USA pageant will feature several notable departures from tradition. In 2023, the pageant struck down its age limit – which prohibited women over the age of 28 from competing – along with restrictions on women who were married or divorced, and women who had children.
Several of this year’s contestants would previously have been barred from entering the pageant, including 31-year-old Miss Maryland Bailey Anne Kennedy, who is also the second transgender woman to ever compete in Miss USA.
The loosening of entrance requirements was celebrated by many in the pageant world as an example of Miss USA adjusting to the 21st century. At the same time, however, some people involved in the competition allege that behind-the-scenes, the pageant is returning to its more conservative roots.
Two beauty queens giving up their titles
When Voigt and Srivastava resigned their titles in May, their public statements were vague. Voigt cited her mental health, while Srivastava said that her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.”
Others associated with the competition, however, were more explicit – particularly those who were not bound by the non-disclosure agreements that restricted the two winners’ speech.
The organization’s social media director Claudia Michelle announced her resignation days before Voigt, in a social media post detailing her issues with the organization.
“I have had the privilege to work with Noelia closely and have unfortunately seen a decline in her mental health since we first met. I feel like her ability to share her story and her platform have been diminished,” Michelle wrote.”I have firsthand seen the disrespect towards Uma and her family.”
Fellow Miss USA competitors also supported Voigt and called for more transparency in the days following her decision to resign. The pageant contestants told Business Insider that they were given NDAs late at night, on the eve of the competition and told to sign them or face disqualification.
“The majority of the members of the Miss USA Class of 2023 support Noelia Voigt’s decision to resign from the title of Miss USA,” Srivastava’s state-level adult counterpart Derby Chukwudi wrote on Instagram, in May. “We are asking the Miss USA Organization to release Noelia from the confidentiality NDA clause of her contract, in perpetuity, so that she is free to speak on her experiences and time as Miss USA. We request a response within 24 hours.”
Months later, the two former title-holders are still limited in what they can say about their experiences. Their mothers, however, have been explicit with their criticism and laid much of the blame at the feet of Rose – who was named president and CEO in August 2023.
Jackeline Voigt and Barbara Srivastava alleged to Business Insider that their children experienced “eight months of torture and abuse” at the hands of Rose. Srivastava’s mother eventually forbade Rose from directly contacting her 17-year-old daughter.
“Our daughters were happy and excited to have the job of their lives when they won those crowns,” Barbara Srivastava told Business Insider. “And to expect this is the payment on their self-esteem and their confidence, being bullied by a 46-year-old woman who just wants to be in the limelight herself — this is unacceptable.”
Allegations of financial impropriety
Before Voigt and Srivastava resigned their crowns, there was also reportedly ongoing tensions between Rose and state-level pageant officials. One individual with longtime ties to Miss USA alleged to Business Insider that several state-level directors were “destroyed financially” by Rose’s management.
Rose reportedly delayed the 2024 competition season by six months, while demanding that state pageant directors sign NDAs before seeing their new contracts with the organization. Among the new terms introduced was a clause requiring state pageants to funnel 30% of every state level contestant’s entry fee to the national competition. The contract also set a minimum entry fee of $1,200.
The Miss Universe organization, which supersedes Miss USA, intervened after several state directors resigned in protest – allowing the employees to return to their original contracts. Still, many state officials argue that the six-month pause during contract negotiations hindered their pageants.
“We’ve lost credibility, we’ve lost respect, and we’ve lost interest,” an official told Business Insider. “A lot of girls would just say, ‘We thought you were no longer legit.’”