Miss Universe Is Investigating The Rigged Pageant Claims During Miss USA 2022

A few days after several Miss USA 2022 contestants made public claims about the beauty competition being rigged, the Miss Universe organization recently shared a statement addressing the rumors.

The allegations started when Miss Texas R'Bonney Gabriel was declared the new Miss USA in a pageant held on Monday, October 3.

The entity published an Instagram story five days after the final, approving and encouraging women to raise their voices to express their thoughts and experiences.

"We are aware of the concerns that have been brought forth by this year's Miss USA contestants. We commend the women for bringing these issues to our attention and will always be an organization that encourages women to use their voice," reads the post.

Miss Universe Organization's statement regarding Miss USA 2022 claims.@missuniverse | Instagram

The institution followed up by stating that the situation is now being analyzed.

"There are existing systems in place to ensure the fairness of our national competitions and as such we have begun an active review into this situation," shared the organization in the same Instagram story.

Over the past two days, Miss Montana Heather Lee O'Keefe has been sharing her experience in the competition on social media, claiming the pageant was rigged.

In a series of TikTok videos, Heather (@heatherleeokeefe) exposes different situations regarding Miss USA's practices that she considers suspicious.

"The drama all started when one of the huge major sponsors posted a video almost immediately after [Gabriel] won, showing her at their resort having this luxury vacation, which is supposed to be part of the Miss USA prize package," said the woman in a clip. "It's pretty clear that this video was pre-recorded and that she was flown out there about nine weeks ago for this experience."

The Miss USA organization hasn't commented further on the allegations as of Friday afternoon.