Bolivia’s representative for the Miss Universe beauty pageant has been stripped of her title after comments posted to Instagram about Miss Universe 2023 contestants.
Miss Bolivia 2022 Maria Fernanda Pavisic, 23, caused outrage when she said that Miss Venezuela and Miss Peru looked like ‘transsexuals’ in postings made in November.
She also referred to Miss Argentina as ‘Miss Potosi,’ which was considered an insult to the women of the southern Bolivian city of Potosi.
She also said that the candidates from Ecuador, Aruba and Curacao came in the category of “thank you for participating” and she said that Miss Paraguay, Miss Brazil and Miss El Salvador were like ‘old ladies’.
As a result of losing the title, it means that the model from Cochabamba will not be able to participate as a Bolivian representative in the “Miss Universe 2023” contest due to be staged in New Orleans in the US on 4th January next year.
The comments also caused the mayor’s office from the southern city of Potosi to file a complaint with the prosecutors accusing Maria Fernanda Pavisic of discrimination and racism, and they also demanded she be stripped of the title.
The model claimed that she had posted the comments as part of an experiment where nice things were not shared – and negative posts went viral.
She said: “People decide to support the negative but I risked everything to leave a message. I have always said that it does not matter what people say about you, instead what you think of yourself, and this is clear proof that the last thing that matters are the comments, but I do care about generating a change or at least that people who see this video and start thinking!”
When told of the dismissal, she said that she rejected the motivation and the reasoning and also slammed those who had criticised her and her family.
She said: “A title of beauty is ephemeral, and life is more than a crown. These bad moments leave good lessons that will help me grow as a person and meet all the goals I have.”
She added that she disagreed with the stripping her of the title, saying it was “absolutely unfair because I never made racist or discriminatory comments or statements against anyone.”
