Miss North Carolina USA loses crown after organizer condemns 'racism, homophobia, transphobia'

Miss North Carolina USA was stripped of her crown weeks before the Miss USA pageant after organizers cited an extended pattern of conduct violating the organization's standards.Miss USA Chairman Thom Brodeur did not specify what conduct prompted the decision to take the crown away from Brittany Boltinhouse but said in a statement that the organization "does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity," adding the conduct occurred "over an extended period of time."The decision ends Boltinhouse's reign just weeks after she won the state title and less than three weeks before she was scheduled to represent North Carolina at the 75th annual Miss USA pageant on Aug.27.SEN BERNIE MORENO CALLS FOR EX-SON-IN-LAW TO RESIGN FROM HOUSE, GET 'SERIOUS PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP'Brittany Boltinhouse pictured as Miss Wilmington, USA at the North Carolina Azalea Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina, in April.
(Instagram/espino.sosa)Myla Hadley, the first runner-up in the state competition, will now represent North Carolina on the national stage "with our full confidence and our support," Brodeur said in a statement.Brodeur said the decision was made in consultation with Boltinhouse, her state directors and the Miss USA organization.He added that while the organization has a "zero tolerance" standard for conduct, accountability "is not permission to strip someone of their humanity."Brittany Boltinhouse pictured as Miss Wilmington, USA.
(Instagram/espino.sosa)"There is a young woman at the center of this," Brodeur said."She has been named, examined, and judged in public in a way that most of us would not survive, and she is still a human being with a family, a future, and a life ahead of her that is longer than this part of her journey.""I have never believed that accountability requires cruelty, or that holding a line means enjoying the fall of the person who crossed it," he continued.Brodeur said Boltinhouse plans to issue her own ...