The president of Miss Universe is looking to jump ship.
Raul Rocha, the co-owner and president of the Miss Universe Organization, said Monday he was “looking for someone to pass it on to” amid a series of controversies surrounding the international competition.
“This is like a test, like a relay race. Who do I pass it along to?” he said in a Spanish-language interview with Mexican journalist Adela Micha.
Rocha, a Mexican business mogul who acquired Miss Universe in January 2024, said that he wanted to sell his 50 percent stake because he was “fed up” with the responsibilities that come with being “the owner, the proprietor, the president” of the organization.
“I’m so fed up with all the talk. I don’t lend myself to that kind of thing,” Rocha told Micha. “They want to come and tell you what decisions you make, how you make them, why you hire people, why you take away people and why you add people.”
The Daily Beast reached out to the Miss Universe Organization for comment.
In the days leading up to Friday’s pageant in Bangkok, the organization was thrown into turmoil after multiple selection committee members resigned publicly—including musician Omar Harfouch, soccer legend Claude Makélélé, and the committee’s own president, Princess Camilla di Borbone delle Due Sicilie.
Harfouch had alleged that the pageant had created an “impromptu jury” to select 30 finalists before contestants even touched the stage, a claim the organization quickly refuted in a statement.
One anonymous Miss Universe contestant told People that Harfouch’s claims of a pre-established top 30 were “heartbreaking.”
“So many contestants have sacrificed their personal lives, left their jobs, and spent a year preparing for this moment,” they said. “We did this because we believed in the integrity of this organization and the mission they told us they stood for.”
On Nov. 4, controversy erupted again when pageant director Nawat Itsaragrisil publicly shamed Miss Mexico contestant and eventual Miss Universe winner Fátima Bosch during a livestream.
The executive called Bosch “dumb” and told security to remove her from the building when she said he was “not respecting me as a woman.”
Miss Universe contestants staged a mass walkout in response to Itsaragrisil’s actions, and Rocha imposed several sanctions on the executive, including his dismissal from the pageant.
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