The newly crowned Miss Universe is facing backlash for a viral video showing her saying a racial slur.
Victoria Kjær Theilvig, who won the Miss Universe pageant on Nov. 16, posted a video lip-syncing the lyrics of “Empire State of Mind” by Jay Z, which includes the N-word. She shot the video on top of the Empire State Building in New York. TikTok users subsequently called Theilvig out for lip-syncing the racial slur.
Theilvig, who represented Denmark in the pageant, was praised by conservatives for her win. “Biological & objectively attractive women are allowed to win beauty pageants again,” Donald Trump Jr., the son of President-elect Donald Trump, wrote in a post on X. “WE ARE SO BACK!!!”
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As then-owner of Miss Universe, Don Jr.‘s father, Donald, Trump was responsible for allowing transgender women to compete in the pageant in 2012.
Under new ownership in 2023, the requirements relaxed again. The age limit was eschewed and married women and mothers were allowed to compete in the pageant. A transgender woman, Marina Machete of Portugal, also placed in the top 20 for the first time.
Miss Universe co-owner Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, a trans woman, said in a leaked video of a boardroom meeting last year that the pageant’s increased diversity was just a “communication strategy” and the women weren’t actually going to win.
“The trans women, the women with husbands, divorced women... This is a communication strategy, because, you understand... they can compete but they cannot win,” Jakrajutatip said. “We just put the policy out there. Social inclusion, as people would say.”
Jakrajutatip echoed a similar sentiment in a joint interview with Theilvig after her win.
“Evolution? We have blond and blue eyes, so we’re coming to the ultimate evolution already,” she said. “We don’t need any more evolution here. We already got the best here.”
Theilvig did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
