Olivia O’Neil Hair Controversy: Pageant Spokesman Denies Taking Away Crown!
Is this what our society has come to?
Miss Teen Wanganui Olivia O’Neil has been dethroned after she decided to die her hair from dirty blonde to brunette.
Many of you remember controversial beauty queens like Miss USA 2006 Tara Connor (who was caught taking drugs and kissing Miss Teen USA 2006 Katie Blair) and Carrie Prejean (who was caught posing nude for cameras while allegedly underage). Those of you who remember these incidences probably recall that neither lady was stripped of her crown – despite the controversial activities they participated in.
The only conclusion we can draw from Olivia’s experience is that it’s okay to experiment with cocaine, stick your tongue down another girls throat and strip nude for cameras but it is definitely NOT okay to dye your hair from blonde to brunette.
WTF.
Olivia, 15, says she was stripped of her crown after she posted a photo on her Facebook page that showed her with a darker ‘do. Pageant organizer Barbara Osbourne asked her if it was a wig and when Olivia replied that it wasn’t, Barbara told her if her new hair was not “pageant worthy” perhaps she was not worthy of holding the crown.
Her crown was then taken away.
Barbara has since been removed from the beauty pageant’s board but Olivia has not received her crown back.
But here’s where the controversy really starts to fuel:
Pageant spokesman Jevan Goulter originally told the New Zealand Herald Olivia’s crown was taken away from her because of the hair dying incident. He said “The expectation in holding the crown was that she maintain the image she had when she won it.”
When asked the same question by staff at Shine.Yahoo.com, Goulter replied with “I would like to make very clear that Olivia never had her crown taken off–she gave it back. The organization never removed it from her. It was never about her changing her hair color. It was about the attitude and the communication breakdown.”
Goulter was so defensive in his response that he left this proposition for Olivia and her family:
“We would like to see them accept this offer [a request he made earlier for a live televised debate over the incident] if they are completely confident about everything that they have said.”
Are you completely confident about what you’ve said, Mr. Goulter? Because your stories and your quotes seem to be conflicting?
I don’t think Olivia has to defend herself any further. It’s very clear who’s right and who’s wrong here.
