Ex-Miss North Carolina USA claims Trump support cost her crown, not racial slur posts
TheGrio...
Brittany Boltinhouse is suing the Miss USA Organization after being stripped of her title when years-old posts resurfaced.
Brittany Boltinhouse lost her Miss North Carolina USA crown this month after posts from 2017 and 2019 surfaced showing her repeatedly using a racial slur. She is now suing the organization that removed her.
TMZ obtained the filing, which names the Miss USA Organization, CEO Thom Brodeur and the operators of the state pageant, alleging defamation and civil conspiracy.
Boltinhouse contends the posts were pretext and that her removal actually stemmed from her political alignment, specifically her support for Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk and her criticism of President Joe Biden’s recognition of Transgender Day of Visibility.
Her attorney, Patrick Mincey, framed the case narrowly. The question, he said, isn’t whether officials had authority to strip the title, but what they said publicly afterward. He argues Boltinhouse was falsely characterized as racist, homophobic and transphobic.
Her defense of the posts themselves is notable. Boltinhouse does not dispute writing them. Instead, the filing argues that no one objected at the time, that she was a teenager, and that no offense was intended or caused. The complaint includes screenshots of the posts.
The filing also submits as an exhibit identification documents for Boltinhouse’s late paternal great-grandfather, Antonio Sosa Figueroa, whom the complaint describes as having identified throughout his life as a Black Afro-Latino Honduran, as reported by TMZ. The document opens by quoting lyrics from a Beyoncé track.
Boltinhouse says the fallout damaged her reputation and cost her business and professional opportunities. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, leaving the figure to a jury.
The suit arrives amid a broader pattern of public figures reframing consequences for documented conduct as political persecution. Whether a jury accepts that framing here will depend less on the posts, which are not in dispute, than on whether the organization’s public statements crossed into actionable territory.
The Miss USA Organization has not publicly responded to the filing.