Key Takeaways
- Miss Universe's official accounts announced on September 18 that delegates from Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore cannot compete in the 75th pageant, set for November 24 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- The ban isn't settled. Miss Universe Eastern, the division that issued those six countries' franchises, rejected it the same day, and its chief, Nawat Itsaragrisil, says all six delegates are going to Puerto Rico regardless.
- Behind the standoff sit Miss Universe's two 50-percent owners: Raúl Rocha Cantú, wanted in Mexico over alleged organized crime, arms and fuel trafficking, and now money laundering; and Jakkaphong "Anne" Jakrajutatip, already convicted of fraud in Thailand and reported to have fled the country.
Six Southeast Asian delegations have effectively been shut out of Miss Universe's 75th edition — except the company that runs the pageant can't agree that the lockout is even real. What looks on paper like a straightforward disqualification is actually the latest flashpoint in a corporate feud that has split Miss Universe into two rival head offices, each claiming to speak for the brand.
A ban announced by one side of a divided company
The exclusion came in a statement posted to Miss Universe's social media accounts on Friday, September 18, in the name of JKN Universe LLC, which does business as the Miss Universe Organization. It declared that franchise and licensing deals covering Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore were never valid, and that delegates from those countries — including Thailand's already-crowned Tharina Botes — would not be eligible for the November pageant. The statement went further, describing the agreements behind those franchises as a "fundamentally illegitimate contractual agreement," void from the start because they weren't signed with the brand's recognized legal owners.
The other half of the company says the ban doesn't count
Within hours, Miss Universe Eastern — the division that actually issued those six franchises — posted its own rebuttal on the official Miss Universe website. It argued that a governing "Hemisphere Agreement" gives it exclusive rights to run the brand across 95 territories, that neither side of the company can unilaterally cancel valid contracts, and that the delegates' participation shouldn't be blocked by a dispute between owners. Its chief executive, Nawat Itsaragrisil, told reporters the notice had no legal force and that a decision of that scale would need sign-off through the company's actual governance structure, not a one-sided statement, per Nation Thailand. He said he personally wouldn't attend the November ceremony but was adamant the contestants would: "I am not going, but the contestants are definitely going."
How Miss Universe ended up with two head offices
The split dates to a deal that closed around January 2024, when Mexican businessman Raúl Rocha Cantú's Legacy Holding Group paid roughly $16 million for half of the pageant's parent company, splitting ownership evenly with Thailand's JKN Global Group, which had bought the brand outright in 2022. Nawat, a Thai media figure who founded the rival Miss Grand International pageant in 2013, spent the following two years absorbing Southeast Asian franchises, picking up licenses for Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam in addition to Thailand's, as Inquirer reported. On July 31, 2026, Miss Universe named him chief executive of the newly formed Miss Universe Eastern, putting him in charge of a region spanning 95 countries, according to the organization's own press release.
Money, not just power, is fueling the fight
Running alongside the franchise fight is a separate row over how Puerto Rico's government funds for hosting the pageant were handled. Nawat's camp has publicly questioned the destination of the $8.7 million the territory agreed to pay — an amount confirmed by Puerto Rico's own tourism agency, not disputed by anyone — alleging some of it landed in bank accounts unconnected to Miss Universe. Representatives raised the claim before the Puerto Rico Senate's Tourism Committee, which has since requested banking records and invoices. Puerto Rico's Compañía de Turismo has pushed back, insisting the disbursed funds were tied to verified contractual milestones, as its executive director told El Nuevo Día. Nawat called the six-country exclusion "similar to a corruption we do not support," and warned that if Puerto Rico can't guarantee those countries a place on stage, he could instruct roughly five dozen other nations under his authority to skip the edition entirely.
Both owners are also fighting criminal cases
The corporate feud is unfolding while both halves of Miss Universe's ownership face serious legal trouble in their home countries. Rocha Cantú, who also serves as JKN Universe LLC's president, has an outstanding Mexican arrest warrant tied to alleged organized crime, arms trafficking and fuel smuggling dating back to 2025; prosecutors requested a second warrant in August 2026 specifically over money laundering, and Mexico's financial intelligence unit froze his bank accounts that February, according to NBC New York. Jakrajutatip's legal problems have already reached a verdict: a Bangkok court convicted her of defrauding an investor and sentenced her in absentia to two years in prison on December 26, 2025, after she failed to show up for her own hearing, as VnExpress reported. She'd already stepped down from JKN Global Group and as Miss Universe's chief executive months earlier following a Thai securities-fraud complaint, per Inquirer, and JKN was later delisted from the Thai stock exchange, according to Nation Thailand.
What happens before the gala
With roughly two months left before the November 24 ceremony at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, neither side shows signs of backing down. JKN Universe LLC has floated pursuing civil and criminal action over what it calls reputational damage; Nawat has told supporters to preserve copies of the dueling statements as potential evidence. Whether the six delegations actually take the stage may ultimately depend less on public statements than on which side of Miss Universe's boardroom split can make its version of events stick.
