In a leaked video of a board meeting last November, Ann Jakapong Jakrajutatip, part owner of the Miss Universe organization, can be heard giving her candid opinion on the true value of diversity in the pageant she is charged with overseeing. She thinks that allowing women from non-traditional backgrounds to potentially compete on the Miss Universe reality show would be good for the pageant’s image, but ultimately, “they won’t win.”
“Trans women, women with husbands, divorced women …” Zakrajutatip explained in the video, which was provided to Vox by a former employee who attended the meeting and has not previously been reported in mainstream US media. “It’s a communication strategy, because, you understand … they can compete but they can’t win. We just put the principle there. Social inclusion, as people would say.”
Later in the video, a version of which aired in Asian and Latin American media in February but was not widely available in the U.S., another board member suggested, “We could do a casting for the model in different colors, shapes, whatever. We’re looking to commercialize that kind of thing – an organization. ‘Miss Universe Model Agency.’
Jakrajuttip seems to agree with the casting idea. “We can have real-life beauty, competitors. Too big,” he says. But he agrees when another board member warns that “we have to control the audience” lest “they all vote for big.”
The point, Zakrajutatip explained, is that the subsequent buzz will allow them to market Miss Universe products. “It’s all connected,” he concluded. “For the money!”
The Miss Universe Organization did not respond to Vox’s request for comment. In a statement on Facebook in February, Jakrajutatip appears to have clearly confirmed the existence of the video but said his words were taken out of context. “The maliciously edited video was taken out of context and used to manipulate other people leading to public confusion, misunderstanding, misinterpretation and wrong conclusions,” she said, adding, “I am a trans woman and a mother who has been where I am all my life. Fight for the right of gender equality.”
Zakrajutatip won the Miss Universe Organization in 2022 as the CEO of Thai television production company JKN Global Group. In 2023, JKN filed for bankruptcy and in January 2024, Zakrajutatip sold half of his shares to Mexican businessman Raul Rocha Cantu. Cantu, who appears in the video but says little, was the franchise owner of Miss Mexico. He made the news in 2011 as the owner of a casino that burned to the ground A cartel-related massacre. The meeting in the video allegedly took place in November 2023 before the sale was finalized.
Mainly, Zakrajutatip explained, the subsequent buzz would allow them to market Miss Universe products. “It’s all connected,” he concluded. “For the money!”
Zakrajutatip’s comments take on added significance given the recent controversy swirling around the Miss Universe Organization following the resignations of both Miss USA and Miss Teen USA in early May. The Miss Universe Organization is the parent company of the Miss USA Organization and their sister contestants. The Miss USA winner qualifies to compete in the Miss Universe pageant a few months after her reign. Both former titleholders remain under NDAs and have made limited public comments about their resignations, but reports that have surfaced in the following weeks allege that they experienced a toxic workplace environment and bullying at the hands of Miss USA Organization President Layla Rose. (Rose said in a statement to NBC In May, “Always, my personal goal as the head of this organization is to inspire women to always create new dreams, have the courage to explore them all and maintain integrity along the way. I hold myself to these same high standards and I take these complaints seriously.”)
As the debate heated up, those in the pageant world wanted to know where the Miss Universe Organization stood. But the Miss Universe Organization was conspicuous by her absence. So far, it has not issued a statement about Miss USA and has taken no steps to install new leadership.
At this point, it’s worth asking the question: What is the Miss Universe Organization for? And who is it serving, if not the women who spend their lives for the crown?
Officially, Miss Universe advertises itself as “the greatest celebration of women”.
“The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) is a global, inclusive organization that celebrates all cultures, backgrounds and religions,” it says. “We create and provide a safe space for women to share their stories and make an impact personally, professionally and philanthropically.”
The idea that femininity offers a safe space to celebrate is central to the institution’s mythology. When I first spoke to pageant insiders about the Miss USA scandal, they repeated over and over that Miss USA exists to empower women and that alleged bullying of outgoing titleholders was a betrayal of what Pageantry is all about. supposed to be about.
What it’s supposed to be about is the soft and feminine-coded skills of presentation and poise — essentially, what sports are to the hard and masculine-coded skills of strength and speed. In theory, pageantry is a place where girls and women can learn how to speak in public and how to present themselves with confidence.
“Pageants are very rare and one of the few places where we teach young women life skills,” pageant coach and former Miss Montana USA Danny Walker told me. “Most important are poise, confidence, interviewing ability and stage speaking ability. Those life skills are very applicable and transferable to many things you want to do in life outside pageantry. That is the medium. This is why we exist.”
Zakrajuttip’s leadership was originally interpreted as fitting this narrative. At the time, the idea of Zakrajutatip, who is a trans woman, to head a company co-owned by Donald Trump, was hailed as a sign of social progress. Duration of vaccination, BBC reported“Pageants became more inclusive” as married women and mothers were allowed to compete for the first time.
I believe the people I’ve talked to have told me they found their pageant experience powerful. At the same time, Miss Universe’s stated goal of empowering women and its recent emphasis on inclusion has always been at odds with the content of the original pageant.
Most of the Miss Universe pageants are still franchises This includes asking contestants to walk across the stage in a variety of outfits — evening wear, swimwear, clothing themed to their home region. Unlike Miss America, the Miss Universe pageant does not have a talent competition. There is an interview segment that varies in length at different events, but in Miss USA contestants are only asked to speak on stage for 30 seconds.
Miss Universe’s stated goal of empowering women and its recent emphasis on inclusion has always been at odds with the content of the actual pageant.
“The judges couldn’t care less about your accomplishments,” A recent Miss New York USA contestant wrote in a blog post, “They just want to see if you can string a few words together without sounding off (an achievement for some girls). If you answer the questions they ask and answer confidently, you can say something in the interview.”
If indeed the goal is to value traditionally feminine achievements in a way that empowers all women, then it’s fair to ask why contestants are judged by a very narrow standard of physical beauty. Is it really empowering women as a class? Or does it empower a small group of individual women who have a good time competing in pageants because they fit short?
Leaked video of Jakrajuttip’s meeting exposes the falsity of Miss Universe’s mission statement in the same way that swimsuit pageants do. It shows an organization that uses empty rhetoric about inclusion and diversity as a cover for the same blurred vision of femininity that it has always pursued: a pageant queen who is thin, cis and very young, a Barbie doll. Pre-Epiphany.
As the video progresses, Zakrajutatip ponders the importance of “empowering women” for all Miss Universe brands. “Women’s empowerment,” she says “What’s better than that?”
