Miss Universe contestant for Palestine, Nadine Ayoub, has already stood strong against smears from her Israeli counterpart and a slew of attacks from the Israel lobby. But, as the competition drew to a close she has again spoken out and appeared to accuse the competition’s organisers of rigging the competition to prevent her being voted ‘Most Beautiful’.
In a video posted to her social media, Ms Ayoub said – and showed screenshots showing – that she had been leading in the ‘Most beautiful’ category but that, while every other award category closed and winners were announced, hers was held open – and that within two minutes the second-placed contestant mysteriously surged by over twenty thousand votes before the voting was closed:
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Ms Ayoub said that she didn’t care about the award itself but rather the injustice – and said that she had already “won the biggest award”:
I already won the biggest award which is people’s hearts and love for Palestine, but we cannot stay silent in times of injustice for others and ourselves.
I want to make it clear that this is not about other contestants. It’s about questioning injustice and the system.
Last week, the Eurovision Song Contest announced that it was tightening its rules and processes after reports that Israel was rigging voting.
The Miss Universe organisation has been contacted for comment.
Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Yalla! Let’s Talk.
By Skwawkbox
This post was originally published on Canary.