The Miss Universe pageant held on Saturday night in El Salvador attracted quite a bit of attention this year thanks to several new records that were broken during it: the winner, Nicaragua's Shanice Palacio, became the first candidate from her country to wear the crown; Miss Pakistan appeared in a burkini during the swimsuit competition; Miss Nepal was the first contestant to wear plus sizes; Miss Colombia and Miss Guatemala are the first mothers in the pageant; and Miss Portugal was the first transgender contestant to break into the top 20.
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This year's pageant is also receiving attention from another direction: In recent years, the Miss Universe pageant has been trying to position itself as a symbol of worldwide brotherhood and solidarity, for equality and human rights. For example, when war broke out in Ukraine, the entire competition was painted in the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag, and even helped fund donations for the country. However, in the wake of the brutal attack that occurred in Israel on October 7 and the call for the return of the hostages, the competition refused to comment on the grounds that it is "non-political."
"Long before me and I'm sure long after me – MUO (the Miss Universe Organization) is a non-political organization. Unfortunately, this has stuck because so many women in the pageant come from war torn countries or other political unrest. What we do is create safe spaces so the women can speak out their mind which many cannot do in their countries," wrote the competition's executive director Amy Emmerich to former competition judge Emily Austin, who confronted her about the competition's lack of response to the massacre and kidnapping of women and children by Hamas. "I know it's not what you want to hear but I do not own the organization. I do hope you are allowing yourself some grace as this is such a travesty and inhuman times.," Emmerich added.
Austin, a sports reporter with more than a million followers on her Instagram account and 500,000 on TikTok and friend of Miss Israel 2021 Noa Cochva, has attempted to pressure the Miss Universe brand, which has crowned itself as "a global organization that includes all cultures, backgrounds and religions, and provides a safe space for women to share their stories," to condemn the massacre of Israelis, including women and children.
"When they chose me as a judge last year, they told me it was because I was an activist. It's strange that Miss Universe cares about human rights only selectively, apparently, Jewish lives are less important," Austin told Ynet. In addition, Austin says that when she confronted the CEO of the competition about the brand's clear mobilization against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and lack of an equal response to the attack against Israel, she did not respond. According to Austin, this is "unparalleled hypocrisy. She put up posts for the children and women in Gaza, but when it comes to the Jews, they decide to keep quiet."
Cochva, who like many of her friends was called up for military reserve duty on October 7, put on a uniform and in between also uses her Instagram for global outreach. She says that the past pageant contestants have a WhatsApp group where she makes sure to send a daily summary of what happened in Israel.
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Correspondence between Emily Austin and competition executive director Amy Emmerich
(Styling: Pini Sommer, Photography: Amir Yahal)
"I send them things about the massacre, for them to see. I see that they are reading but no one responds, until someone actually came out on me and said that everything that is happening is Israel's fault because it is committing genocide. It is especially painful because all these girls were here with me in Israel. We even did Kiiddush together on Shabbat. They were all so excited to hear that the IDF is integrating girls into command positions, and were amazed to see this coexistence they had never seen before between Arabs and Jews working side by side, even in the hotel where we stayed in Eilat. So how is it that after such an act of inhumanity they suddenly all disappear?"
Austin also points the blame at the participants who do not speak out. "Five of the girls I myself chose as winners posted anti-Zionist posts. They only stopped after I contacted them." Cochva adds: "They don't know what they are doing, they only write and share because it is trendy now to go against Israel."
Cochva and Austin also plan to release a video, in which they call on the contestants for their generations to pressure the management to issue an official condemnation of the assault. "I combined in the video a lot of clips of the girls from the competition that was here in Israel, and then I show them exactly what happened and is happening to us here," says Cochva. "I explain to them that their silence actually says everything. I tell them directly - think about the hostages, they could be you."
Cochva also says: "I explained to the girls that my goal was to make the most non-political video possible – just to ask that they return the abductees home in several different languages. At first, many of the girls who were with me in the competition told me that they were interested, but then they regretted it because 'the publicists forbade them.' They said they couldn't take sides now because they would be kidnapped. There was someone who specifically wrote to me that if she spoke out, she would be fired or she would receive threats from terrorist organizations."