Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse has launched defamation proceedings against the Miss USA organization after it stripped her of her title earlier this month while citing a string of allegedly offensive posts for the dethroning.
Boltinhouse filed the civil lawsuit, which was obtained and reported 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, according to the outlet.
PEOPLE noted in the complaint, Boltinhouse clarifies “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.” It continues:
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, 27, alleges the defendants used the collection of old social media posts to justify her removal as Miss North Carolina.
She further accused pageant bosses of covering up the reason why her crown was removed.
The Miss USA organization said its decision came after she allegedly she violated its standards, condemning “racism, homophobia and transphobia” in its statement announcing her dethronement, as Breitbart News reported.
Leaders at A Blaize Productions, which oversaw the Miss North Carolina USA contest, said the original decision to relieve Boltinhouse of her title was “difficult” but chose then not to go so far as to specify the conduct that led to the decision.
That will now be made clear in court.
The lawsuit was filed on the eve of Miss USA, which kicks off in Miami, Florida, on Monday.
Boltinhouse has been previously described as, “a proud Latina woman with Honduran roots, entrepreneur, and community advocate.”