by REERA YOO
Last week, Miss Asia Pacific World dethroned Myanmar’s first international beauty Queen, May Myat Noe, for alleged dishonesty and accused her of absconding with a $100,000 tiara and free breast implants.
Noe lashed back in a press conference held in Yangon on Tuesday.
“I’m not even proud of this crown,” she said after opening a blue jewelry box and setting the tiara on the table, “I don’t want a crown from an organization with such a bad reputation.”
Photo Credit: Soe Zeya Tun of Reuters
Noe said the South Korea-based pageant lied about her age, stating that she was 18 instead of 16. According to the pageant’s official website, the minimum required age to enter the contest is 18, but despite this restriction, Noe was somehow still allowed to compete.
She also denied accepting breast implants as claimed by David Kim, director of media for Miss Asia Pacific World. Kim had claimed that the $10,000 tab for the surgery was picked up by sponsors in order to enhance the teen beauty queen’s budding singing career.
“I was put under duress to undergo head-to-toe cosmetic surgery, which I refused… I didn’t have breast implants, but I don’t want to go into any details to preserve my dignity,” Noe said.
Photo Credit: Soe Zeya Tun of Reuters
She also said she boarded a plane back to her home country before getting word of her dethronement and did not intend to steal the crown. However, now that the Swarovski tiara is in her possession, Noe refuses to return it without a “sorry.”
“I will return the crown only when they apologize to Myanmar, for the dignity of our country,” she said.
Among other allegations, Noe said the organizers asked her to escort business tycoons “whenever they required” her company in order to generate funds to produce her music album.
Y.C. Choi, the president and founder of Miss Asia Pacific World, denied these claims and told AFP that the organization had photographic evidence of Noe on an operating table for the breast implant operation.
“She has been lying. She also lied at today’s news conference. She must return the crown,” Choi said, adding that his organization is ready to consider a lawsuit if Noe “refuses to cooperate.”
When The Korea Observer asked Choi what drove him to dethrone Noe as Miss Asia Pacific World 2014, he argued that Noe disgraced the organization by borrowing money from a nurse to buy $18 bras after breast implants, complaining about not having schedules sent to her in advance, and her unwillingness to pay extra expenses incurred during her mother’s extended stay.
This is not the first time Miss Asia Pacific World had a controversy.
In 2011, Amy Willerton, a contestant from Wales, alleged that the contest had been fixed after the contestant representing Venezuela was apparently named runner-up of the talent round before she even competed.
During the pageant’s four-year history, there were also other contestants who accused the officials of asking the women for sex in exchange for better rankings in the pageant.
Photos via NY Daily News
