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Louise Thomas
Editor
A new Miss USA has been crowned.
On Sunday, August 4, Alma Cooper from Michigan was announced the 2024 winner while competing at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Connor Perry from Kentucky was the competition’s first runner up and Danika Christopherson from Oklahoma was the second runner up.
Following her win, the 22-year-old US Army officer will be competing in the Miss Universe pageant in November.
“As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro Latina woman and an officer of the United States Army, I am living the American dream,” she said during a Q & A session with the judges on Sunday, according to CNN. “If there’s anything that my life and my mother have taught me, it’s that your circumstances never define your destiny: You can make success accessible through demanding excellence.”
Cooper was crowned by the 2023 Miss USA, Savannah Gankiewicz, after Noelia Voigt announced her resignation in May. The first Venezuelan-American woman to win the competition ended up taking to Instagram to write a lengthy statement detailing why she was relinquishing her crown.
“In life, I strongly value the importance of making decisions that feel best for you and your mental health,” her statement began. “As individuals, we grow through experiencing different things in life that lead us to learning more about ourselves.
“My journey as Miss USA has been incredibly meaningful, representing Utah with pride, and later the USA at Miss Universe. Sadly, I have made the very tough decision to resign from the title of Miss USA 2023.”
“Never could I have imagined the journey that my childhood dream would take me on,” Voigt continued. “Constant and consistent hard work and dedication all lead me to where I am today, and I hope that over the last seven years of competing in pageantry and sharing my journey with you all is something that inspires you to never give up on your dreams, whatever they may be.”
However, her runner up Gankiewicz sparked backlash after she accepted the title. “To my fellow Miss USA sisters, I believe it’s crucial for us to stand united for the future of the organization and the incoming class of 2024 and beyond,” Gankiewicz, who has held the title for three months, said in a social media statement at the time.
Days after Voigt’s post, Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava also announced her resignation, giving similar reasons as she cited mental health.
Her Instagram post explained that her “personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.”
“After months of grappling with this decision, I have made the choice to resign from the title of Miss Teen USA 2023,” she wrote. “I am grateful for all the support from my family, my state directors, my sister queens, and the fans who have cheered me on since I won my state title.”
She added: “I will always look back on my time as Miss NJ Teen USA fondly, and the experience of representing my state as a first generation, Mexican-Indian American at the national level was fulfilling in itself.”
Following Srivastava’s resignation, the pageant’s 2023 runner up, Stephanie Skinner also declined the title of Miss Teen USA.
“In light of recent events, I have decided to decline the title of Miss Teen USA,” the then-19-year-old wrote on Instagram. “This is not an easy decision. I hope for respect of my choice as this was a decision I never asked to make.”
The current controversy among the organization stems from the way they have treated the winners. The mother’s of the resigned winners, Jackeline Voigt and Barbara Srivastava, claimed in an interview with Good Morning America that the Miss USA organization mistreated their daughters. “The job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare,” Srivastava said, adding, “They were ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered.”
Gankiewicz went on to state in an interview with Fox that she didn’t agree with the claims, adding that she had nothing but kind words to say about Miss USA. “Now that I’ve been Miss USA for almost three months, I can now say that that was all false. The organization is amazing,” Gankiewicz said. “It’s just so crazy to me that one person could have this experience and make up all these crazy lies.”
Voigt addressed the interview on her Instagram Stories on Saturday, August 3, where she wrote: “I firmly believe it is inappropriate to comment on situations that we were not part of, and certainly don’t have the full story about.”
“If the intention is to empower women, why the need to invalidate their feelings and experiences, and question the character of those who ... have stepped away and lost their dream, or their career?”
This year’s Miss Teen USA winner was Addie Carver, a 17-year-old cheerleader, dance teacher, and choreographer from Mississippi.
