The former Miss North Carolina USA is suing the pageant organization, claiming their distaste for her conservative political views was weaponized against her. The defendants, the suit says, are guilty of "maliciously coordinating to publish a false public narrative portraying Brittany Boltinhouse as a racist, homophobe, transphobe, and intolerable bigot to be shunned from public life."

Brittany Boltinhouse, a Duplin County native who competed in the state pageant after being crowned Miss Wilmington, earned the right to compete in the 75th annual Miss USA pageant on Aug 27. But with just weeks to go, saw her title removed and the runner-up, Myla Hadley, step into the spotlight.

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Boltinhouse's lawsuit does not question whether the Miss USA/Miss Universe organization had the right to remove her, instead, it focuses on the way they did so and the economic and reputational damage she suffered.

"When these Defendants sicced an online mob on a young woman, they knowingly ensured her excruciating reputational destruction," the suit reads.

"Defendants’ coordinated publications generated devastating media coverage and instantly transformed Brittany’s public identity from the newly crowned Miss North Carolina USA into the target of widespread accusations of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and bigotry. Those accusations remain associated with Brittany’s name across the world."

The suit establishes Boltinhouse as the daughter of immigrants. Her father was from Honduras, her mother from Mexico.

She does not deny making social posts in 2017 and 2019 that contained a racial slur, but the suit notes, "no one took offense because it was evident in 2017 and 2019 when Brittany wrote those posts as a teenager no offense was intended."

When those posts came to the attention of the Miss USA/Miss Universe organization, the suit alleges, representatives conspired to paint Boltinhouse as a bigot and to coerce an apology from her. 

The suit make this claim:

Defendants’ coordinated statements evidence a conspiracy to gratuitously, maliciously, wantonly, knowingly and intentionally set about to defame Brittany as a racist, homophobe and transphobe in the absence of any supporting evidence.Lawsuit: Brittany Boltihouse v. Thom Broudeur, JKN Universe LLC, A Blaise Productions LLC

Pageant organizers did not say what, exactly, Boltinhouse did to have her title removed. A Blaize Productions, which runs pageants in the Carolinas, said the decision came after a "thorough review of recently surfaced information."  

In a series of meetings and phone calls, Boltinhouse and pageant representatives discussed her title and her statements. Transcripts of those conversations are included in the suit. Nic Blaize, co-director and for A Blaize Productions, which directs the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA state pageant for North Carolina and other states, says, "This has nothing to do with you not having the freedom to say these things. It's just that saying those things don't align with the organization."

Blaize pointed out that Boltinhouse's decade-old social posts, her support for Charlie Kirk and presence at the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol combined to "paint a picture" that was uncomfortable for the pageant organization.

Blaize told Boltinhouse, "Brittany, you are being dethroned, or you have been dethroned because of the totality of every single thing altogether. That's why our statement says, after review of multiple things, it's multiple things. It's not one thing, and it certainly has nothing to do with who you politically support ...

"This is not about your Christian beliefs. This is about defamatory things that you posted, and you said that were hurtful."

Thom Brodeur, chairman, president and CEO of Miss USA, said the organization holds pageant contestants to a zero-tolerance standard for conduct.

The suit includes screengrabs of social media posts by both A Blaize Productions and Brodeur that Boltinhouse claims did irreparable damage to her reputation by linking her to the statement that "The Miss USA organization does not tolerate racism, homophobis, transphobie nor language that strips any person of their dignity."

Her suit says, "As a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ conduct and the foreseeable adverse coverage it generated, Brittany has suffered and continues to suffer substantial injury to her name, reputation, her businesses, standing in the community, personal and professional relationships, career, livelihood, and future economic opportunities. ... 

"Brittany has further suffered humiliation, embarrassment, mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and the burden and expense of investigating, monitoring, responding to, and attempting to mitigate the false narrative and adverse coverage generated by Defendants."