Jeanette Settembre
The next Miss USA and Miss Teen USA will soon be crowned, after months of scandal within the pageants’ organization — but insiders say there’s chaos behind the scenes.
The 73rd Annual Miss USA Pageant is slated to air on the CW on August 4, from the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. But the pageant’s state directors — the people who run the state contests— are upset because they didn’t get official itineraries until last week, leaving some scrambling to plan for their title holders, a source close to the Miss USA pageant told The Post.
“State directors finally got information on Thursday or Friday. They were pretty upset because it was so late and they had no information for their title holders,” the source told The Post, explaining how that left them two weeks to handle itineraries, travel arrangements and wardrobe requirements.
“Logistics are going to be difficult — Laylah [Rose] is off her rocker,” a state director, who requested anonymity to protect the privacy of their title holders, told The Post of the Miss USA Organization’s beleaguered president. “She doesn’t communicate.
“It definitely has the potential to be a mess,” the state director said, noting that the organization only “recently” put down a deposit on the Peacock Theater.
While contestants heading to Hollywood are excited at the prospect of winning the crown, some are also said to be nervous about an allegedly toxic workplace culture exposed with the shocking resignation of former title holders.
Miss USA Noelia Voigt, 24, stepped down in May, citing mental health challenges seven months into her reign.
In her resignation letter posted to Instagram, Voigt capitalized the first letter of each sentence to spell out the coded message “I AM SILENCED” — on purpose, sources confirmed.
“Never compromise your physical and mental well-being. Our health is our wealth,” Voigt captioned the post.
“This toxic atmosphere is a serious concern,” a source close to the situation told The Post at the time. “There is an urgent need for intervention at the leadership level.”
Two days later, 17-year-old Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava also quit amid what sources told The Post were “harmful workplace conditions” including harassment and bullying.
This year’s Miss Teen USA is set to take place at the Peacocks Theater and air on the CW on Aug. 1.
Miss USA social media manager Claudia Michelle resigned the day before Voigt, saying on Instagram: “I believe Noelia and Uma’s mental health and happiness has taken a toll and I cannot remain silent about that.”
Sources previously claimed to The Post that Miss USA CEO Laylah Rose was secretly posting on social media using Voigt and Srivastava’s identities.
“The contestants are excited they’re going to Hollywood, but they’re a little bit afraid, scared — not knowing what they’re getting into just given the situation as it happened,” the state director told The Post this week.
“[In previous years] it was like going to the Super Bowl … I’ve had [other state directors] say, ‘This is the strangest feeling in the world … I think I want her to win?’ None of them want the experience that Noelia and UmaSofia had.”
The state director also told The Post there is confusion about how the show will be run.
“We don’t know if [Rose] is going to choose a top 10, a top 15 or a top 12,” the state director said.
In May, the CW told The Post it was evaluating its “relationship with both pageants” including Miss Teen USA after the resignations.
According to a third close source, “When we ask for guidance [from the organization], we’re consistently met with ‘We have an NDA so we couldn’t say anything before’ … they use it as a catch-all to excuse their last minute communication.”
The state director said the CW apparently doesn’t mind the pageant being tarnished: “When there’s a controversy, they feel it’s going to drive ratings. They want eyeballs.”
The CW and the Miss USA organization did not return requests for comment.
A second state director said she plans to leave Miss USA after this year’s pageant.
“I no longer believe in this brand at the national level or their desire and ability to actually uplift and empower these ladies,” she said.
This post was originally posted by NYPost
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