Denmark’s Victoria Kjaer Theilvig is under fire over a week after she was newly crowned Miss Universe 2024. The 73rd recipient of the title is in hot water for using a racial slur in a viral video (TikTok)documenting her recent Empire State Building outing in the United States.
Social media users condemned the pageant star for lip-syncing the N-word while singing along to Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” while rocking her Miss Universe tiara. Some quickly demanded her official apology, while others even suggested the possibility of decrowning for presenting the Miss Universe banner in such a light.
Also read | Biden’s ‘last hurrah’ White House soiree: A ‘real love fest’ or ‘the losers party’?
‘Anti-woke’ victory of Miss Universe 2024 overshadowed by new controversy
Theilvig’s victory against 120 other hopeful aspirants was announced on November 16 in Mexico City. The internet largely hailed it the “end of wokeness” and credited the so-called “Trump effect” after a biological woman secured the title. Tweets like “Unbelievable, Miss Universe is a natural born female” instantly went viral on X, formerly Twitter. Another tweeted, “Trump wins and a woman finally wins Miss Universe. The world is healing.” Anyhow, it was a presumed conclusion since there were no trans contestants in the running for the title this year.
However, with the latest development in sight, TikTok users noticeably expressed their disgust regarding 21-year-old Theilvig’s behaviour. Comments like “Runner up, you’re up, this one is DONE” prompted a heated debate on the SNS platform, according to the Daily Mail. Someone else wrote, “In the crown at that omg.”
Netizens speculate the incident would go unaddressed
As of Monday (US time), neither Theilvig nor the pageant organisation has publicly addressed the arising controversy. Meanwhile, netizens believe that it wouldn’t be a shocker if the incident were to go unaddressed. They attribute the possible lack of accountability to Miss Universe CEO Anne Jakrajutip’s controversial remarks about how diverse women “can compete, but they can’t win.” As per a Business Insider report, the CEO also addressed the case of the pageant’s “evolution,” saying, “Evolution? We have blond and blue eyes, so we’re coming to the ultimate evolution already. We don’t need any more evolution here. We already got the best here.”
Also read | Winner of BTS’ Jungkook lookalike competition in Chicago is an all-too-familiar face as ‘lore runs deep’
Victoria Theilvig’s leading stance at this year’s contest marked the pageant’s return to more traditional Western beauty standards. Although she is the first Dane to ever return victorious, conservative fans celebrated the “normalcy” of a “straight, white, biological woman” winning Miss Universe 2024, as also highlighted in popular political commentator Matt Wallace’s tweet. Controversial Brit Oli London, famous for his ethnic plastic surgeries to look like BTS’ Jimin despite being born white, who has now turned to politically railing against “woke” ideology, also wrote, “Wokeness is officially over.”
