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Miss USA CEO Laylah Rose issued a public response to the recent accusations of a toxic environment, bullying and sexual harassment made against the organization following the recent resignations of Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava earlier this month.
"We are very disappointed to hear the recent false allegations made by individuals speaking on behalf of our former titleholder," Rose said in a statement obtained by ABC 7 on Friday (May 31). "The allegations of sexual harassment, toxic environment and bullying are not true. To be clear, such behavior is not accepted, and we can assure you that if such behavior ever occurred, we would take immediate steps to protect our titleholder and provide access to appropriate resources," Rose's statement continued.
Voigt, 24, who represented Utah while winning the Miss USA 2023 crown at the pageant held in September, placed in the top 20 in the Miss Universe 2023 pageant in November and is the first Venezuelan-American woman to win the Miss USA crown in the pageant's history, announced her sudden resignation, becoming the first Miss USA to voluntarily step down in the pageant's 72-year history, on May 6. The 24-year-old specifically mentioned Srivastava, who later announced her own resignation from the Miss Teen USA title on May 8, while expressing gratitude for support in her statement.
Several users acknowledged that the first letter in the first 10 of 11 sentences of the statement shared by Voigt spelled out the phrase "I AM SILENCED."
Voigt's friend, Claudia Michelle, told the Independent that the Miss USA winner was subjected to "inappropriate advances" by a driver prior to her sudden resignation. Voigt was reportedly traveling in the backseat of a car during a Christmas parade in Sarasota, Florida, when a driver, described as an older man, aggressively suggested that he wanted a relationship with her.
“He was saying, how he was older and he had money, that kind of thing,” Michelle claimed. “She literally couldn’t escape it. What was she going to do, step out of the car and walk away in the middle of the parade? She was stuck.”
Both Voigt and Srivastava's resignations followed Miss USA social media manager Claudia Michelle's decision to step down from her position on May 3. An insider told the New York Post that the three women decided to quit together and strategically worked out the timing of their respective resignations amid reported "harmful workplace conditions."
“The decision was not easy. Noelia and UmaSofia are extremely dedicated people who worked incredibly hard for the pageant. The decisions were not taken lightly. They all decided to do this together,” the insider said. “They are afraid of speaking out more at this time because of the organization. They don’t want this to have any lasting harmful effect on their futures.”
The source added that the alleged harassment and bullying was so bad that Srivastava's parents reportedly prohibited Rose from speaking to their daughter.
“All correspondence had to go through her parents. Her parents meet weekly with the Miss Universe Organization to try and get things to change with Miss USA but nothing ever gets done. No changes, no nothing,” the source claimed.
A spokesperson for the Miss USA organization previously said “the well-being of our titleholders is a top priority, and we understand her need to prioritize herself at this time" in a statement to CNN following Voigt's resignation.