{"id":301122,"date":"2025-11-22T08:59:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T08:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/301122\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T08:59:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T08:59:17","slug":"miss-universe-scandal-resigned-miss-universe-judge-omar-harfouch-considering-legal-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/301122\/","title":{"rendered":"Miss Universe Scandal: Resigned Miss Universe judge Omar Harfouch considering ‘legal action’"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the judges who suddenly resigned from the Miss Universe Pageant<\/a> just days before it took place is currently considering “legal action” amid the ongoing scandal that has marred the competition.<\/p>\n

Omar \ufeffHarfouch, a Lebanese composer and musician, had been on the selection panel until he announced he was quitting in a series of Instagram stories, labelling the pageant<\/a> a “charade”.<\/p>\n

He alleged an “informal jury” had been assembled in secret to select the 30 Miss Universe<\/a> finalists jeopardising the legitimacy and fairness of the final outcome. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Omar Harfouch says he is considering “legal action” against the Miss Universe Organisation. (Getty)<\/p>\n

“I could not stand before the public and television cameras, pretending to legitimise a vote I never took part in,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

Now that the pageant is over and the winner was crowned – going to F\u00e1tima Bosch from Mexico – Harfouch has taken to Instagram, announcing his intentions to pursue legal action.<\/p>\n

“I, Omar Harfouch, resigning member of Miss Universe International Jury, wish to inform the public that I have officially consulted one of the leading law firms in New York to examine the potential filing of a formal complaint before the Office of the Attorney General against the Miss Universe Organisation,” he wrote.<\/p>\n

“The issues under review include, but are not limited to: fraud, abuse of power, corruption, deception, breach of contract, conflict of interest, and emotional and reputational damages.”<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff’I wouldn’t be here unless my late husband died’: Carrie’s tear-jerking speech<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: What the Everybody Loves Raymond cast look like now\ufeff<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff’We had no idea’: The Castle stars’ admission decades later<\/a><\/p>\n

\"OmarOmar Harfouch revealed his intentions in an Instagram statement. (Instagram\/ @omarharfouch)<\/p>\n

Harfouch also continued to allege that a “secret and illegitimate vote was held to determine the Top 30 contestants before the arrival of the official jury”.<\/p>\n

\ufeffHe concluded his post with what he called a formal warning to “all past and current judges” that involvement in the judging panel “may legally implicate them in an act of global-scale fraud”.<\/p>\n

In an interview with People, Harfouch revealed that he and his legal team “were waiting to see if Miss Meixco won before we started to pursue legal action, and she did win”.<\/p>\n

\ufeffHe continued that he wants to “bring justice” to contestants, especially those he claims were “kicked out” by what he called an “informal jury”.<\/p>\n

The Miss Universe Organisation has refuted Harfouch’s claims with its full chest, citing “certain inaccuracies”.<\/p>\n

“The Miss Universe Organisation firmly clarifies that no impromptu jury has been created, that no external group has been authorised to evaluate delegates or select finalists\ufeff and that all competition evaluations continue to follow the established, transparent and supervised MUO protocols,” the statement reads.<\/p>\n

\"MissThe Miss Universe Organisation released an official statement refuting Harfouch’s claims. (Instagram)<\/p>\n

People reports that Harfouch also claims attempts were made to pressure him into voting for Bosch, who ultimately won the contest, due to alleged connections with her father. \ufeff<\/p>\n

The latest comes after the beauty pageant has been \ufeffengulfed in scandal.<\/p>\n

Alongside Harfouch’s resignation, a second judge \ufeffClaude Make\u0301le\u0301le\u0301, resigned from his role as a judge but stayed mum on his reasoning.<\/p>\n

\"MissClaude Make\u0301le\u0301le\u0301 was the second judge to resign amid claims the competition was rigged. (Instagram)<\/p>\n

Earlier, Bosch, who would go on to win the pageant, called\ufeff out Thai Pageant Executive Nawat Itsaraggrisil, who reportedly chose to publicly single her out.<\/p>\n

During a pre-pageant ‘sashing’ ceremony, Itsaraggrisil publicly confronted Bosch, accusing her \u2013 in a livestreamed event \u2013 of failing to participate in promotional material.<\/p>\n

The exchange escalated into a verbal clash, resulting in Itsaraggrisil insulting Bosch and prompting a mass walk-out by other contestants.<\/p>\n

\"MissFellow contestants in the pageant walked out en masse after Miss Mexico was berated. (Facebook\/@MissUniverseThailand)<\/p>\n

Later, in another headline making incident, Dr Gabrielle Henry, Miss Universe<\/a> Jamaica, fell from the main stage during the evening gown round of the preliminary competition in Bangkok, Thailand.<\/p>\n

\ufeff\ufeffBosch, was ultimately crowned the winner of Miss Universe just days after her fiery exchange with the contest exec.<\/p>\n

To read more on the scandal that has surrounded the Miss Universe scandal, find a full explainer here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the judges who suddenly resigned from the Miss Universe Pageant just days before it took place…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-301122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}