The Miss USA crown was passed to the runner-up earlier this year, and the Miss Netherlands title went to that country’s first transgender winner in July. Both will compete to be Miss Universe in December. But a Facebook post spreads a bogus claim about Miss USA boycotting the upcoming competition.
In October 2022, R’Bonney Gabriel of Texas was crowned Miss USA, and North Carolina’s Morgan Romano was named the pageant’s runner-up.
In January, Gabriel went on to win the title of Miss Universe, and she passed the Miss USA crown to Romano.
Meanwhile, Rikkie Valerie Kollé became the first transgender woman to be chosen as Miss Netherlands on July 8. She will be the second openly transgender woman to compete in the Miss Universe contest, which will be held in December.
But now, amid a conservative backlash against transgender rights, a Facebook post is spreading a false claim about the contestants. “Miss USA Boycotts Miss Universe Pageant: ‘I’m Not Competing Against a Man,’” the post reads.
But it’s a fabrication.
This misinformation originated on a satirical website, America’s Last Line of Defense, which describes itself as a “network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery.” We’ve written about other false claims created on the website and spread on social media.
The Facebook post, however, does not identify its content as satire.
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