YANGON, Myanmar – May Myat Noe of Myanmar was recently crowned winner of the 2014 Miss Asia Pacific World beauty pageant, making her the country’s first international beauty queen. The victory, however, was short-lived, as she was dethroned and stripped of her title by pageant organizers on the grounds of her being “dishonest and unappreciative.”
Organizers further claimed that Noe ran away with the crown, worth $ 100,000; an accusation that the beauty queen spoke out against at a jam-packed press conference in Yangon, Myanmar on Tuesday, Sept 2, 2014.
Noe said that she won’t return her jewel-studded crown until pageant organizers apologize for calling her a liar and a thief.
She revealed to members of the press that organizers of the Miss Asia Pacific World pageant lied about her age – passing her off as 18 instead of 16 – and attempted to force her to have plastic surgery procedures done “from head to toe.”
David Kim, director of media for the South Korean-based pageant, had earlier alleged that Noe had breast implants put in; an allegation which Noe has denied.
Kim further claimed that the surgery was done free of charge as part of efforts to catapult the teen beauty queen into greater heights of stardom.
Noe was stripped of her title last week, but was already on a plane to Myanmar before she received word of the decision.
She emphasized that she had no intentions of stealing the crown, but neither did she plan on returning it without an apology to her, and to her nation of Myanmar, as well.
“I’m not even proud of this crown. I don’t want a crown from an organization with such a bad reputation,” she said, setting the Swarovski tiara down on the table for the press to see.
The Miss Asia Pacific World pageant has already been rocked by controversy in the past.
In 2011, Wales representative Amy Willerton, along with several other contestants, claimed that the contest was rigged, and that pageant officials asked the contestants for sex in exchange for higher ranking in the contest. They said further that police investigating the case had been bribed by the officials to look the other way.
Kim denied all those allegations.