Eagle-eyed fans of the Miss USA pageant noticed something unusual about 2023 winner Noelia Voigt’s resignation statement about her mental health on Instagram. The first letter of each sentence spelled out “I am silenced.”
Voigt’s resignation, followed by Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava’s resignation two days later, sent shockwaves throughout the pageant industry and its fan community. The unprecedented nature of the situation, combined with unanswered questions, has created a social media sensation.
TikToks with millions of views, multiple Reddit threads, and YouTube deep dive videos have sought to uncover what Voigt was “silenced” about. Since 2020, former contestants and viewers have used social media to skewer the organization that runs Miss USA, including making favoritism allegations, as the pageant underwent numerous leadership shake-ups.
“We need to listen carefully, because someone is trying to tell us something important,” said model and TikTok creator AnnaNoel Olsen in a video about Voigt’s post that has 2 million views. “I can’t even imagine how many contracts, NDAs, all the things she is under. Her putting this in there was so someone would find out.”
Multiple former members of the Miss USA industry have since spoken out, including former Miss USA and longtime state director Shanna Moakler and former Miss USA social media director Claudia Michelle, who stepped down a few days before Voigt resigned.
In her post announcing the resignation, Michelle wrote that the role had been her “dream job,” but she had no other team members to help her and worked unpaid for the first two months. Michelle wrote that the official Miss USA social media accounts had blocked people and deleted comments without her guidance or approval.
“This is a women’s empowerment organization and my hope in making this statement is to restore some of the empowerment back to these titleholders that was so deeply lost in their year,” Michelle wrote. “Having not signed any contracts or NDA’s, I feel as if I am in the position to speak on what I have witnessed.”
Michelle wrote that she observed Voigt’s mental health decline and that she saw Miss Teen USA Srivastava and her family disrespected. She wrote that Voigt and Srivastava were restricted from being able to post about their “personal advocacies” on social media and that management spoke about them in an “unprofessional and inappropriate” way. Michelle also wrote that assistant national directors were “let go” from the organization for undisclosed reasons.
“I believe their voices and their stories should be heard and not silenced,” Michelle wrote about Voigt and Srivastava.
“I feel the way current management speaks about their titleholders is unprofessional and inappropriate; I disavow workplace toxicity and bullying of any kind,” she said.
Michelle, Voigt and Srivastava did not immediately respond to NBC News requests for comment.
The CEO and President of the Miss USA Organization, Laylah Rose, said in a statement on Wednesday that her goal is “to inspire women to always create new dreams, have the courage to explore it all, and continue to preserve integrity along the way.”
