Former Miss North Carolina USA sues Miss USA pageant, alleges defamation over statements made after dethroning

Losing a crown is one thing. Being publicly defamed afterwards, says Brittany Boltinhouse, is another, and now she's taking the Miss USA organisation to court over it.

According to People, Boltinhouse, who was stripped of her Miss North Carolina USA title earlier this month, filed a civil defamation lawsuit in Duplin County Superior Court on Sunday, August 23. The complaint names the Miss USA organisation, its chairman Thom Brodeur, and North Carolina pageant operators as defendants.

Notably, Boltinhouse isn't disputing the organisation's right to remove her crown in the first place. Her claim is narrower and more pointed: she says statements made about her afterward painted a false and damaging picture of her character, one she argues has hurt her reputation and cost her real professional opportunities.

The backstory traces to late June, when Boltinhouse won the Miss North Carolina USA title and old social media posts of hers resurfaced, including several posts from 2017 and 2019 in which she used a racial slur, which she acknowledges in the complaint. Also referenced were more recent posts showing her support for Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk, and Andrew and Tristan Tate, along with posts criticizing a Biden administration proclamation.

Boltinhouse's central argument is that her political and religious views, not the resurfaced posts, are the real reason she lost her title — and she says she has recorded conversations with pageant officials to back that up. According to the complaint, those conversations pointed to concerns among officials about public backlash if she stayed involved with the pageant.

She also alleges that officials pushed her to sign off on an apology statement she felt mischaracterised her, and that Brodeur later referenced that statement publicly in a way that made it seem like she'd approved its content.

Boltinhouse is seeking compensation for reputational and emotional damage, plus what she describes as lost opportunities, including the value of the title itself, a shot at competing for Miss USA, and potential sponsorships and endorsements. She's also pursuing punitive damages, attorneys' fees and other costs.

"Brittany Boltinhouse was not merely stripped of a title. She was publicly branded with a scarlet letter, accused of some of the most despicable accusations that can be lodged against another person in modern society," her attorney, Patrick M. Mincey, said in a statement to People.

Miss USA first announced Boltinhouse's removal in an August 5 Instagram statement, with Brodeur saying the decision followed conduct that violated the organization's standards, though he didn't detail what that conduct was at the time.