Cheating Allegations for the Miss USA Organization Make Headlines

The “pageant” has been a significant part of American culture for at least the past century. We use pageants as a gateway to look into the current beauty standards of our generation or the evolution of said beauty standards. It is no secret that pageantry is held very near and dear to the hearts of many Americans, so, when foul play is presumably involved, it is taken very seriously.

In this years Miss USA pageant, you can see a few of the contestants walk off stage as R’Bonney Gabriel is crowned Miss USA. Usually, the winner of the pageant is greeted with congratulations and good sportsmanship like behavior (as far as what is shown on stage); but this time, the winner is greeted with resentment and strife. And this is due in part to accusations of cheating, favoritism, and overall foul play. Some of the contestants, like Heather Lee O’Keefe (Miss Montana), have been very vocal on social media outlets like Instagram and Tik Tok to let the public know how she feels about the whole ordeal. Amanda Musa and Jennifer Henderson in their article “Miss USA program under investigation after contestants claim pageant was rigged” quotes O’keefe by stating, ““We really can’t blame this girl and it’s really sad because her performance was amazing and she probably could have won fair and square,” O’Keefe also said in a TikTok video. “The issue is not with Miss Texas or R’Bonney winning. The issue is with the alleged corruption of the Miss USA organization.””

As of right now, Gabriel is suspended from entering the Miss Universe pageant, which is what many winners of the Miss USA pageant attend. In fact, because of the internal investigation taking place, it is said that the Miss Universe Organization will be taking over the Miss USA program while this internal investigation is taking place.