Brittany Boltinhouse was stripped of her 2026 title after the Miss USA organization said she violated its standards, condemning “racism, homophobia and transphobia” in its statement
Credit: Brittany Boltinhouse/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Brittany Boltinhouse, the woman recently stripped of her title as Miss North Carolina USA, is suing the Miss USA organization
- She claims pageant officials falsely portrayed her as racist, homophobic, transphobic and bigoted after removing her crown
- Boltinhouse, who identifies as a “conservative Christian woman,” is seeking damages related to future loss of income, reputational harm and emotional distress
Brittany Boltinhouse, the woman recently stripped of her title as Miss North Carolina USA, is suing Miss USA and several other parties for defamation.
Boltinhouse filed the civil lawsuit, which was obtained by PEOPLE, in Duplin County Superior Court in North Carolina on Sunday, Aug. 23.
The Miss USA organization, its chairman, Thom Brodeur, and the North Carolina pageant operators are listed among the defendants.
In the complaint, Boltinhouse clarifies that she is not challenging the pageant organization’s authority to take away her crown. Instead, she is suing over statements that the defendants allegedly made afterward, which she claims falsely portrayed her as racist, homophobic, transphobic and bigoted and could damage her reputation.
Credit: Brittany Boltinhouse/Instagram
In the complaint, Boltinhouse acknowledges that old social media posts resurfaced after she won the crown in late June, including six posts from 2017 and 2019 in which she used a racial slur.
The complaint also references later social media posts in which Boltinhouse expressed her support for Donald Trump, Charlie Kirk, and Andrew and Tristan Tate and her opposition to Joe Biden‘s Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation.
Boltinhouse alleges the defendants used the collection of posts to justify her removal as Miss North Carolina.
She further claims that her conservative political and religious views were actually the reason she was dethroned, and she cites alleged recorded conversations with state pageant officials in support of that allegation.
According to the complaint, those conversations reflected concerns about potential public backlash against the Miss USA pageant if she remained involved.
Boltinhouse also claims that pageant officials attempted to get her to approve an apology statement that she says portrayed her as bigoted. She further alleges that the Miss USA chairman later referred to the statement publicly, giving the impression that she had approved its contents.
Representatives for Miss USA did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Credit: Brittany Boltinhouse/Instagram
Boltinhouse is asking for monetary compensation for the alleged damage to her reputation, emotional distress and lost professional and economic opportunities.
She alleges that the amount should include the value of losing the Miss North Carolina title, the chance to compete at Miss USA, and potential sponsorships, endorsements, appearances and future career opportunities.
She is also seeking punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, costs and interest.
“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,” Patrick M. Mincey, an attorney for Boltinhouse, said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE.
Stephen Bell, additional counsel for Boltinhouse, added, “While defendants enjoy a certain level of discretion to crown and remove titleholders, they cannot remove a titleholder for political reasons and then defame that titleholder to the public to hide their true motivations.”
“That is what the evidence will show occurred here,” Bell added.
The Miss USA organization first announced that Boltinhouse was no longer Miss North Carolina USA 2026 in a statement posted on Instagram on Aug. 5.
Brodeur, chairman and CEO of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, said the decision was made jointly with the titleholder, her state directors and the organization following what it described as conduct that violated its standards. While Brodeur did not specify the conduct that led to the decision at the time, he said the organization “does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity.”
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Boltinhouse subsequently retained a team of lawyers.
Speaking with Carolina Journal editor-in-chief Donna King in an interview posted on YouTube on Aug. 7, Boltinhouse said she believed she was stripped of her title because of her views as a “conservative Christian woman.”
She also shared that because she had signed an agreement with a “confidentiality clause,” she was “not allowed to speak about things” that led to her losing her title.
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