In response -- Miss Volunteer America Pageant

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time ]

Subject: In response

Author:
No name

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: Wed October 02, 2024 17:06:35
In reply to: 's message, "Seems suspicious" on Sun September 29, 2024 14:26:44

Speaking as a former sponsor of this pageant, I was there and witnessed some things firsthand. I can tell you that I feel this was absolutely the fault of the director. He had a bad temper, and I witnessed her having a panic attack after one of his outbursts. He also was very short with me, and I’m heard from several other ex-sponsors that he had arguments with them, to the point that they will not work with him again.

He also made a sexual comment to me about the contestant’s body that made me cringe. He made a sexual joke directly to me, which I felt was very uncalled for and inappropriate. It was obvious to me during the short amount of time I was with the two of them, she was extremely uncomfortable around him. To be honest, he made me feel uncomfortable too.

I don’t know if this is public knowledge, but after she made the post on Facebook about why she resigned, another girl came forward with complaints about the director. Apparently, it was someone who was offered the title the very first year he was the director. After speaking with him multiple times, that girl decided not to do it because he had made inappropriate comments to her that made her feel uncomfortable. This seems to be a pattern with him, I don’t know if it’s because he’s older and he thinks it’s ok to make these kinds of comments. But things have definitely changed in pageantry over the years and sexual comments and jokes are just no longer tolerated.

You say there was no evidence, yet I know for a fact Olivia had screenshots, voicemails, emails, and messages from multiple sponsors regarding his behavior. She sent all of it to the president of the pageant, whom she spoke with on numerous occasions. I’m sure after reviewing all the information, she had no other choice but to remove him. Let’s be honest, she really should have removed him last year after he sent inappropriate pictures of himself to last year’s contestant. I have also heard that Carli, last year’s contestant, submitted multiple pages of evidence to the pageant president last year. She probably realized that she could have faced a lawsuit herself for allowing this type of behavior to continue after it was reported last year.

As far as your comment about the girl’s reputation, I have heard nothing but good things about her from other Miss Oklahoma directors. Even Rich made the comment that every single director he asked about her only had glowing reviews. I think if there’s now rumors or negative talk about her, it’s probably all coming from him and the former OK Vol board. From what I’ve heard, they did the same exact thing to Carli last year after she left them. They tried to deflect the blame off themselves by spreading rumors about her behavior to other directors. If you’re hearing negative comments from them, take it with a grain of salt. I’m sure they’re still upset about being removed.

Oh, and you were questioning her motive because of the timing of her resignation. If you read her post on Facebook again she clearly states she was having panic attacks due to his behavior. She wasn’t eating and felt like she was developing an eating disorder due to his constant comments about her body. She was working out 5 days a week to lose weight, which he told her to do. Then when she lost weight, he said she didn’t look good anymore and criticized her about that. I’m sorry, but this girl is like 5’-8” – 5’-9” and only weighed 125-135 lbs. to begin with. She didn’t need to lose any weight. Over the few months that I saw her, she had lost that fun spark she had before. She was just so drained emotionally by his behavior that she made the decision to step down for her own well-being. I’m sure it was a very difficult decision, but he sucked every bit of joy out of it for her. She made the comment to me afterwards that she has no desire to do any more pageants after this experience. Which is quite a shame, because she has such an amazing story to share.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]