Miss USA Alma Cooper crowned amid controversial pageant year

A new Miss USA has been crowned.

Miss Michigan Alma Cooper took the crown on Sunday during the pageant's 73rd annual ceremony, and comes after the resignation of a previous titleholder caused controversy and spawned shakeups at the Miss USA organization.

Miss Kentucky Connor Perry and Miss Oklahoma Danika Christopherson were first and second runners-up, respectively.

"As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro-Latina woman, and an officer in the United States Army, I am living the American dream," Cooper, 22, said during the Q&A portion of the pageant, according to CNN and Today.com.

Cooper is a U.S. Army officer, data scientist and master's student at Stanford University researching food insecurity.

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"I have wanted to walk the Miss USA stage since I was a little itty bitty girl," she told Stanford in a video profile posted last week. "I found that my skills ... and having this community and this love and support, it all managed to make me a better candidate."

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The Miss USA pageant aired on the CW, after the network said it was "evaluating its relationship with both pageants."

Cooper's crowning follows a turbulent year for the Miss USA organization, following the resignations of former Miss USA Noelia Voigt and former Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava and the exit of the organization's social media director.

Voigt, who was awarded Miss USA in September 2023, announced her resignation in a statement on Instagram in May. The former title holder wrote, "In life, I strongly value the importance of making decisions that feel best for you and your mental health."

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Days later Srivastava, Miss Teen USA 2023, shared a lengthy statement announcing her departure because her "personal values no longer fully align with the direction of the organization."

On May 15, their mothers, Jackeline Voigt and Barbara Srivastava, claimed in a "Good Morning America" interview that the Miss USA organization mistreated their daughters. "The job of their dreams turned out to be a nightmare," Srivastava said, adding, "They were ill-treated, abused, bullied and cornered."

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Miss USA Savannah Gankiewicz has tried to 'discredit' former titleholders' experience, they say

2023 Miss USA pageant runner-up, Hawaii's Savannah Gankiewicz, was crowned a week after Voigt's resignation, a move that has also come with controversy.

"To my fellow Miss USA sisters, I believe it's crucial for us to stand united for the future of the organization and the incoming class of 2024 and beyond," Gankiewicz, who held the Miss USA title for three months, said in a social media statement at the time. Comments were limited on the joint announcement, which was a collaborative effort by the Miss USA, Miss Hawaii USA and Gankiewicz's Instagram accounts.

Miss Teen runner-up, Miss NY Teen USA Stephanie Skinner, declined her invitation to replace Srivastava.

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Gankiewicz told Fox News in an interview published Friday that she wanted to "see for myself what's going on with the Miss USA organization and just see for myself if there were any of those allegations that were true."

"Now that I've been Miss USA for almost three months, I can now say that that was all false. The organization is amazing," Gankiewicz added. "It's just so crazy to me that one person could have this experience and make up all these crazy lies."

Last week, she defended the organization in an interview with News Nation, claiming the former titleholders' allegations of bullying were "actually the other way around."

On Saturday, reps for Voigt and Srivastava issued a statement regarding Gankiewicz's recent interviews, claiming the former runner-up has "been attempting to discredit and invalidate the experiences" of the former titleholders.

"We are deeply concerned that Savannah has chosen this significant occasion to undermine the voices of these two brave young women, who have tried to share their reasons for stepping down although bound to a very strict NDA," the statement read. "Both former titleholders stand firmly behind their decisions and have moved on, and we urge the rest of the Miss USA organization and current reigning to do the same."

Both former titleholders have posted their own statements on social media.

"I firmly believe it is inappropriate to comment on situations that we were not part of, and certainly don't have the full story about," Voigt said in a written statement on her Instagram story. "If the intention is to empower women, why the need to invalidate their feelings and experiences, and question the character of those who ... have stepped away and lost their dream, or their career?"

She continued: "This week is about the contestants and their once in a lifetime experience competing at nationals, not about the drama surrounding the organization or trying to prove who is right or wrong, while one side is contractually silenced."

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Gankiewicz wrote in her own Instagram story statement that she is "not stating that anyone's experience is invalid," according to People. "Rather, I state that my personal experience was not one of a toxic working environment. That is the allegation I am referring to."

Contributing: Naledi Ushe, Brendan Marrow, KiMi Robinson