Former Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the organizations behind the Miss USA and Miss North Carolina USA pageants, alleging she was stripped of her crown because of her “conservative Christian” beliefs.
A Blaize Productions, which organizes Miss North Carolina USA, announced Aug. 5 that Boltinhouse had been dethroned over “recently surfaced information” that conflicted with the pageant’s “standards and values.”
The organization did not initially identify that information. However, Miss USA President and CEO Thom Brodeur later issued a statement suggesting the decision involved allegedly discriminatory statements or conduct.
“The Miss USA organization does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity — whoever they are,” Brodeur said in the Aug. 6 statement.
Dethroned Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse files defamation lawsuit, accuses pageant of cover-up https://t.co/UbCulLNpIl pic.twitter.com/WcGVX8FgPl
— New York Post (@nypost) August 24, 2026
Reports subsequently emerged that Boltinhouse had used the word “n—a” in social media posts from 2017 and 2019.
Boltinhouse’s attorneys did not deny in the lawsuit that she had used the term. They argued, however, that the posts did not prove she was “a racist, homophobe, transphobe or a bigot who should be shunned from public life.”
The lawsuit names Miss USA and A Blaize Productions among the defendants. Boltinhouse claims pageant officials conspired to remove her, replace her and damage her reputation because she publicly supported conservative politicians and personalities.
Court documents cited her support for President Donald Trump, Andrew and Tristan Tate, Turning Point USA and its founder, Charlie Kirk.
Another social media post included in the case showed Boltinhouse criticizing President Joe Biden’s 2024 “Transgender Day of Visibility.” She reportedly described it as part of a “moral decay” that conflicted with American and Christian values.
The lawsuit also says Boltinhouse attended Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech on the Ellipse as part of a Turning Point USA trip. She did not “approach or enter the Capitol Building” afterward, according to documents obtained by Nexstar.
“Defendants hid from the public the real reason they dethroned Brittany: [S]he is a conservative Christian,” her attorneys alleged.
The lawyers also claimed that an apology referenced in Brodeur’s Aug. 6 statement was never approved or agreed to by Boltinhouse.
She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, along with attorneys’ fees. Representatives for Miss USA and A Blaize Productions did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Boltinhouse, a Duplin County resident, won the Miss North Carolina USA title on June 28, 2026. She was 27 when she captured the crown in her first pageant.
Boltinhouse previously told The Duplin Times that she entered the competition to reconnect with her femininity after launching a flooring business with her husband.
“I’m in such a male-dominated field that it didn’t allow me to be girly,” she said.
Boltinhouse had been scheduled to compete at the Miss USA pageant in Miami. North Carolina will instead be represented by Myla Hadley, who received the crown after Boltinhouse was removed.
Hadley said she and her team were prepared to assume the responsibilities and prestige of the title.
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