2024-08-05 13:45:01
Miss Michigan Alma Cooper is the winner of Miss USA 2024.
LOS Alma Cooper, Miss Michigan USA, walks onstage during the 73rd annual Miss USA Pageant at Peacock Theater on August 04, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
On Sunday, Cooper was crowned after competing for the title at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. Miss Kentucky Connor Perry was announced as the first runner-up, while Miss Oklahoma’s Danika Christopherson was announced as the second runner-up.
Alma Cooper, Miss Michigan USA walks onstage during the 73rd annual Miss USA Pageant at Peacock Theater on August 04, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
The announcement for the winner of Miss USA 2024 came just a few months after the former Miss USA 2023, Noelia Voigt, and former Miss Teen USA, UmaSofia Srivastava, resigned their titles.
In their announcements about stepping down from earlier this year, Voigt cited mental health, and Srivastava wrote that her “values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization.”
After announcing she was stepping down, Voigt claimed in a resignation letter obtained by ABC News that there was a “toxic work environment within the Miss USA organization that, at best, is poor management and, at worst, is bullying and harassment.”
“I was made to feel unsafe at events without an effective handler and this culminated in being sexually harassed,” she said at the time.
Voigt also named Laylah Rose, the president and CEO of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA organizations, in her resignation letter and claimed Rose “was generally inaccessible for communication,” didn’t offer her support and allegedly “slandered [her].”
On May 30, Rose responded to the allegations against her and the organization in an open letter.
“We are very disappointed to hear the recent false allegations made by individuals speaking on behalf of our former titleholder,” the letter read in part.
The letter continued, “The allegations of sexual harassment, toxic environment and bullying are not true. To be clear, such behavior is not accepted, and we can assure you that if such behavior ever occurred, we would take immediate steps to protect our titleholder and provide access to appropriate resources.”
Voigt later took to Instagram to respond to Rose’s letter, claiming that she was constrained by a non-disclosure agreement from speaking publicly on the matter.
“Laylah Roses’ assertions in her recent statement that contradict my experience after three weeks of unanswered resignation notification are unequivocally inaccurate,” Voigt wrote in her statement. “I strongly encourage her to waive our NDA to enable me to speak.”
Following their daughters’ decisions to resign from their titles, both Voigt’s and Srivastava’s mothers spoke to “Good Morning America” about what they said led to their daughters’ resignations.
“The job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare,” Barbara Srivastava told “GMA” in May. “We could not continue this charade. The girls decided to step down, give [up] their dream of a lifetime, a crown, a national title — why would two girls decide to give that up?”
Elsewhere in her open letter on May 30, Rose cited examples of ways in which “Miss USA is evolving.”
“On behalf of the Miss USA organization, I am also collaborating closely with the National Association for Mental Illness (NAMI) to provide all of our contestants with access to local resources for counseling and various forms of support,” she wrote.
She also noted that the organization dropped its age requirement to increase inclusivity.
After Voigt’s and Srivastava’s resignations, the organization named Savannah Gankiewicz, Miss Hawaii USA and the first runner-up in the 2023 Miss USA competition as the new 2023 titleholder. The role of Miss Teen USA 2023 remained vacant.
