Former Miss North Carolina who was stripped of her title sues organisation for defamation
The former Miss North Carolina USA who was stripped of her crown after social media posts showing her using the N-word resurfaced has launched legal action against the organisation.
Brittany Boltinhouse, 27, won the title of Miss North Carolina USA last month and was poised to compete at the national Miss USA competition this week.
But just days after winning, organisers announced that her title had been revoked after ‘recently surfaced information’ came to light.
The crown was then given to runner-up Myla Hadley , who will represent North Carolina at the competition in Miami.
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At the time, the organisation didn’t reveal what the resurfaced information was, but chairman Thom Brodeur said in a statement at the time: "I want to speak to the issue plainly, because our titleholders, our state directors, fans and every young woman watching deserves to hear where I stand.
"The Miss USA Organisation does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity - whoever they are. That is not a policy written for a press release.
"It is the floor of what it means to represent this brand. A title here isn't a trinket. It is a position of trust, extended by an organisation and accepted by a woman who agrees to carry a standard in public."
But it was later reported that old social media posts from Boltinhouse’s account showed her using the N-word several times.
When asked by the Daily Mail if she felt she should apologise for the tweets, she said: “No. Not at all.”
She went on to say she wouldn’t ‘deny them or run from them’, but added that she believed organisers ‘did not take my crown because of those posts’.
On Sunday, (23 August), Boltinhouse filed a civil lawsuit in Duplin County Superior Court in North Carolina in which she accuses the organisation and several others of defamation, including pageant operators A Blaize productions.
In the filing, which was obtained by the Daily Mail, Boltinhouse’s legal team doesn’t challenge the fact that the organisation had the ‘legal authority’ to remove her title.
Instead it accuses the defendants in the lawusit of ‘maliciously coordinating to publish a false public narrative portraying Brittany Boltinhouse as a racist, homophobe, transphobe and intolerable bigot to be shunned from public life’.
In the filing, Boltinhouse acknowledges that old social media posts resurfaced after a win that contained the racial slur, including half a dozen from 2017 and 2019.
“At the time - and for nearly a decade - the posts generated no comments, objections or outcry,” the document states, before accusing ‘online sleuths’ of unearthing the posts after she won the Miss North Carolina title.
The filing also references later social media posts, in which she showed support for Donald Trump and the Tate brothers, as well as one opposing Transgender Day of Visibility.
Boltinhouse is asking for monetary compensation ‘in an amount to be determined by the jury'.
The organisation says the title was not removed due to her 'personal political or religious beliefs'
A representative from A Blaize Productions has previously said in a statement to the media: “Ms Boltinhouse was not removed because of her political affiliation, religious beliefs or the exercise of those beliefs.
In a previous statement to the Daily Mail, the company said: “Contestants and titleholders are not prohibited from holding or expressing personal political or religious beliefs.
“Our agreements do, however, establish standards regarding conduct, decorum, representations made to the organisation and the responsibilities associated with representing the Miss North Carolina USA title.
“Following her crowning, previously undisclosed information and publicly available material were brought to our attention.
“The organisation reviewed that information, communicated directly with Ms Boltinhouse, and consulted with the national organisation. The decision was ultimately based on the totality of the circumstances, including conduct and material that the organisation determined was inconsistent with the standards and responsibilities associated with serving as Miss North Carolina USA.
“This was not a determination about whether Ms Boltinhouse was entitled to hold particular political or religious beliefs. She was, and remains, entitled to those beliefs.”
Claire Reid