Mothers of fired Miss USA and Miss Teen USA speak out

TThe mothers of Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava revealed the reasons for their daughters’ surprise after their titles were dropped in early May.

“Her dream job turned out to be a nightmare,” said Barbara Srivastava, UmaSofia’s mother, during a meeting. Interview Tuesday with Good Morning America. “We could not continue this charade. The girls decided to resign and give [up] the dream of a lifetime: a crown, a national title. Why would two girls decide to give this up?

Their daughters stepped down from their roles within days of each other in early May and were unable to speak because of confidentiality agreements they signed with Miss USA, the mothers said during the GMA interview.

Bárbara said her daughter was “abused, intimidated and cornered” by the organization. In her resignation statement on social media, UmaSofia Srivastava made it clear that she did not agree with the direction the organization was taking, adding that her personal values ​​were not fully aligned with them. Bárbara told GMA that as soon as her daughter saw that Voigt resigned, she wanted to “support Noelia.”

Voigt also wrote a letter addressed to the leadership of the Miss USA and Miss Universe organizations, in which she called the organization a “toxic work environment.” In the letter, she also revealed that Miss USA did not provide Voigt with a suitable coach to act as a manager or scout for women and girls. Jackeline Voigt, Noelia Voigt’s mother, says that her daughter felt uncomfortable with the advances made against her at events. In one case, Voigt was left alone with a man in a car who sexually harassed her

“That’s not what she worked so hard for. The Miss Universe organization needs to come talk to us, or apologize, or clean up this mess,” Noelia told GMA.

Both mothers advised other contestants not to compete for any Miss USA titles because of the alleged work culture. “See what happened to Noelia and UmaSofia. Right now is not the right time to participate,” said Jackeline. “We just don’t want these families and these girls to go through what we’re going through.”

On a Press release On May 10, the Miss USA organization announced the new Miss USA titleholder, Savannah Gankiewicz, and wrote: “We are committed to fostering a healthy, communicative and supportive environment for all contestants, state and national titleholders and employees involved with the Miss USA. organization, is our mission. We ask that community, empathy and kindness be restored.”

The CW Network, which broadcasts the Miss USA pageant, said it is “evaluating your relationship” with both contests. The network had just signed an “exclusive multi-year broadcast partnership” with Miss USA and Miss Teen USA.