Miss Universe R’Bonney Gabriel crowns new Miss USA after allegations about rigging competition
R’Bonney Gabriel, the winner of 2022’s Miss Universe, has crowned a new Miss USA, after facing allegations about rigging the competition.
The beauty pageant winner gave her former title of Miss USA to Miss North Carolina, Morgan Romano, over the weekend. Since Gabriel won the title of Miss Universe earlier this month, the first runner up in October’s Miss USA competition received her old title.
The ceremony took place on Saturday at Auburn University, during a preliminary competition of Miss Alabama Teen USA and Miss Alabama USA 2023, according to Pageant Circle.
On Instagram over the weekend, Romano shared photos from her coronation event. The post also featured a photo of Gabriel placing the crown on the new Miss USA’s head.
In the caption, the chemical engineer wrote: “Heart full of gratitude. I’m all yours, USA.”
Former pageant winners took to the comments of Romano’s post to congratulate her.
“YOU ARE MISS USA! Congratulations sister,” former Miss USA Sarah Rose Summers wrote, while Asya Branch, Miss USA 2020 winner, added: “Welcome to the fam, beautiful.”
Miss USA also announced Romano’s new title in an Instagram post, where the caption read: “Day one as Miss USA. The crown looks good on her!”
The event came weeks after Gabriel became the first Filipina American to take home the crown as Miss Universe, despite facing cheating allegations about a possible rigging of this year’s competition.
Following Gabriel’s win, The Miss Universe Organization issued a statement toThe Independent denying the claims, after viewers on social media alleged that the competition favoured Miss USA over the other contestants and called Gabriel’s win a “fraud”.
“The allegations re: rigging of Miss Universe are false,” Amy Emmerich, the CEO of Miss Universe Organization, said. “People saying that it’s ‘suspect’ that JKN Global Group owns both Miss Universe and Miss USA aren’t familiar with the history of the organisations. ​​One of the top four accounting firms in the United States handled the results and verified the process.”
Emmerich also noted that a firm looked into allegations made about Gabriel’s Miss USA win in October being rigged, and confirmed that the claims were unfounded.
“With regards to the old Miss USA allegations, an independent third party law firm was hired to look into them,” she said. “Their results showed that the rigging allegations were unfounded. R’Bonney has been a strong and dedicated contestant.”
She further expressed her support for Gabriel, adding: “She is the rightful Miss Universe. I look forward to this much attention being focused on her non-profit work as well.”
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