Sheena Monnin, Miss Pennsylvania USA 2012
who competed in the recently held Miss USA competition in Las Vegas has
resigned to her title after leaving a personal statement via Facebook. 26-year old Monnin mentioned that she gave up the title due to disappointment in the system.
No exact reasons about her change of opinion about the organization were given.
The Miss Pennsylvania USA state director has not spoken on the matter and neither has the Miss Universe Organization.
Here is Monnin’s statement, in her own words:
“I have decided to resign my
position as Miss Pennsylvania USA 2012. Effective immediately I have
voluntarily, completely, and utterly removed myself from the Miss
Universe Organization.
In good conscience I can no longer
be affiliated in any way with an organization I consider to be
fraudulent, lacking in morals, inconsistent, and in many ways trashy. I
do not support this system in any way. In my heart I believe in honesty,
fair play, a fair opportunity, and high moral integrity, none of which
in my opinion are part of this pageant system any longer.
Thank you all for your support and
understanding as I walk a road I never dreamed I’d need to walk, as I
take a stand I never dreamed I’d need to take.
After 10 years of competing in a
pageant system I once believed in, I now completely and irrevocably
separate myself in every way and on every level from the Miss Universe
Organization. I remove my support completely and have turned in the
title of Miss Pennsylvania USA 2012.”
Rhode Island’s Olivia Culpo was crowned Miss USA 2012 on June 3rd.
Updated, June 5 @ 11:00 am EST:
The controversy has caused all kinds of reactions, from curious people
who would like to know what happened, to defenders of the system who
call her a “sore loser”. Monnin updated her Facebook account on Tuesday
with the following:
“Many people have sent me messages
requesting and at times demanding that I come forward if I know
information that has led to my abrupt and surprising resignation. I
agree that it is my moral obligation to state what I witnessed and what I
know to be true.
I will relay to you the reasoning
behind my resignation. I witnessed another contestant who said she saw
the list of the Top 5 BEFORE THE SHOW EVER STARTED proceed to call out
in order who the Top 5 were before they were announced on stage.
Apparently the morning of June 3rd she saw a folder lying open to a page
that said ‘FINAL SHOW Telecast, June 3, 2012′ and she saw the places
for Top 5 already filled in.
Thinking she was just seeing a
rehearsal fake top 5 from a previous day she walked away, then realized
that it had without a doubt been labeled as the Final Show Telecast,
June 3rd. After the Top 16 were called and we were standing backstage
she hesitantly said to me and another contestant that she knew who the
Top 5 were.
I said ‘who do you think they will
be?’ She said that she didn’t ‘think’ she ‘knew’ because she saw the
list that morning. She relayed whose names were on the list. Then we
agreed to wait and see if that was indeed the Top 5 called that night.
After it was indeed the Top 5 I knew
the show must be rigged; I decided at that moment to distance myself
from an organization who did not allow fair play and whose morals did
not match my own. That is all I know about this. If this contestant
would like to step forward as an eye witness and as being the one who
saw the sheet with the Top 5 already selected before the judges ever saw
the Top 16, then perhaps action can be taken.
As for me, I believe her words and I
will not encourage anyone to compete in a system that in my opinion and
from what I witnessed is dishonest.”
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