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Miss USA 2022 Winner Addresses "RIGGED" Pageant Claims
The Miss USA Organization has been deed with different scandal—this clip involving a intersexual harassment allegation.
Beauty queen turned Big Brother season 24 champion Taylor Hale, has alleged that Miss USA Organization's erstwhile vice president Max Sebrechts made unwanted advances toward her the greeting aft she competed successful the 2021 Miss USA pageant.
"He DMs maine connected Instagram and says, you did a bully job, truthful arrogant of you," Hale recalled of the November 2021 connected the Oct. 28 occurrence of the Reality Steve podcast. "He invites maine to the statesmanlike suite. I decline."
The erstwhile Miss Michigan USA said the 2 aboriginal ran into each different successful a edifice lobby portion she was carrying a "big and heavy" signifier costume. Hale said Sebrechts, 42, offered to assistance carry the garment to her room, which she accepted, knowing determination were boundaries acceptable by the organization.
"There was a protocol successful spot wherever if you were being escorted to your room, the idiosyncratic who was escorting you would halt astatine the elevator slope and ticker you spell down the hallway to your room," she explained. "He did not halt astatine the elevator bank, helium continued to spell into the room."
She continued," He placed the costume successful the country successful the introduction corridor and past helium walked each the mode successful and proceeded to beryllium down, person a speech with me."
While Hale, 27, said she didn't find Sebrechts' actions astatine this constituent to beryllium peculiarly "threatening," she said she was "definitely uncomfortable, similar helium should not person been lingering."
"And past erstwhile helium stood up helium gave maine immoderate precise sexually intimate types of hugs, similar they were precise intimate, beauteous sexual," she alleged. "He's whispering successful my receptor telling maine you know, I'm truthful beautiful, truthful gorgeous. He kisses the country of my rima trying to play it disconnected similar it's my feature and I just, I'm conscionable frozen. I'm not doing thing but he's intelligibly waiting for maine to marque the adjacent move. He does this doubly and past yet I get him to permission the room."
E! News has reached retired to Sebrechts' rep but person not received a comment.
Hale, the first Black pistillate to win a non-celebrity variation of Big Brother, initially went nationalist with her allegations earlier this period in comments made to the Daily Mail.
Her accusations travel hot-on-heels of another controversy involving the Miss USA Organization. After Miss Texas USA R'Bonney Gabriel took location the crown connected Oct. 3, respective contestants took to societal media claiming the 2022 contention was "rigged." Gabriel aboriginal denied the allegations exclusively to Erin Lim Rhodes connected the Oct. 6 occurrence of E! News' The Rundown.
Following the rigging accusations, Crystle Stewart, the president of the Miss USA Organization and Miss USA 2008, was suspended pending an autarkic investigation. She has besides denied the claims.
"The existent allegations that the 2022 Miss USA pageant was successful favour of 1 contestant implicit different are misleading and simply not factual," she said successful a caller connection obtained by E! News. "I americium afloat cooperating with the unfastened probe being conducted by a 3rd enactment astatine the petition of the Miss Universe Organization. I americium anxious for each of the claims to beryllium disproven and the facts volition talk for themselves; ultimately, putting each contestant's minds astatine easiness erstwhile and for each that this was so a just pageant."
Sonja Flemming/CBS
(Sebrechts and Stewart and person been joined since 2014 but are presently separated, a root adjacent to the pageant tells E! News. The insider besides said Sebrechts was not affiliated with the Miss USA Organization astatine the clip of the 2022 pageant.)
While Hale is alert of the existent rigging allegations, she said her lone interest is Sebrechts and his alleged behavior.
"What's much important to maine is that helium is dealt with, she said connected the Reality Steve podcast. "What's much important to maine is that those allegations are taken seriously."
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