Newly-crowned Miss Texas under fire for anti-Semitic comments

The newly crowned Miss Texas USA came under fire just days after being crowned for an allegedly anti-Semitic comment she made.

The comment resurfaced online, prompting some activists to question why she, Allison Drake, 26, was not disciplined and why the issue was not addressed by the organization.

Drake became the new title holder last week after the previous winner, R’Bonney Gabriel won the Miss Universe title in January, vacating her former position.

Organization officials said the first runner-up declined the position, leaving Allie next in line.

Drake, however, would barely go a day before coming under fire from Jewish influencer Lizzy Savetsky, who shared a video with her nearly 225,000 followers exposing the freshly crowned winner for having allegedly made an off-color joke about the Holocaust to a fellow contestant.

The comment was shared to Instagram by a fellow contestant and read: ‘@alliejdrake gives me the best compliment. ‘You look like Anne Frank coming out of the Holocaust,’ Lmaooo. Proud of you.’

Savetsky said the comment was an irresponsible use of the organization and contestant’s platform.

‘As a former pageant girl, I was third runner-up to Miss Teen Texas in 2002, I know that that title comes with a lot of responsibility. When you enter a pageant and you win a crown, you become a role model,’ she said.

‘Young girls look up to you. You have to be so cautious and calculated with the messages that you put out there and whether or not you like it, you have profound influence on impressionable minds.

‘This was an extremely irresponsible use of a platform by someone who is proudly smiling and wearing a crown, not to mention the fact that so much of what she said was not only hateful and ignorant, but just not factual,’ Savetsky continued.

In response to the incident, the Miss Texas USA organization said they were aware of the comment, but do not believe Drake made it.

‘The Miss Texas USA organization and Miss Universe Organization are aware of an anti-Semitic comment that was posted on social media in July 2022, alleging that it was made by Allison Drake.

‘Per sworn affidavit, this comment was not made by our current Miss Texas USA, Allison Drake. The Miss Texas USA organization denounces and condemns anti-Semitism, racism, bigotry, and all forms of discrimination,’ it read.

The Miss USA organization said it has a sworn affidavit from Drake that she did not make the Holocaust joke

Drake, 26, became the Miss Texas last week after the previous winner, R’Bonney Gabriel won the Miss Universe title in January, vacating her former position

Organization officials said the first runner-up declined the position, leaving Allie next in line

Savetsky’s position is that, regardless of whether Drake made the comment or not, the Miss Texas USA Organization might’ve used the incident as a teaching moment, but did not. 

The latest bout of pageant controversy comes about a month after Gabriel, a controversial figure herself, was crowned Miss Universe in New Orleans.

Gabriel’s ultimate win followed a controversy at the Miss USA pageant that Gabriel’s win had been rigged. Fellow American contestants said at the time that Gabriel’s win had been the result of ‘favoritism.’

The legitimacy of her win was also challenged by fellow contenders who said it was suspect that a beauty treatment company that offers a price to the winner featured Gabriel in an ad less than 24 hours after she won.

Gabriel appeared in an ad for NIZUC spas less than 24 hours after she won the Miss USA pageant, which led other competitors to believe the contest had been rigged from the start.

Miss Montana, Heather Lee O’Keefe claimed the ads proved the winner was chosen unfairly: ‘@MissUSA was crowned less than 24 hours ago, yet she already got her sponsored vacation to @NIZUCResort,’ she wrote. 

Savetsky, a former pageant girl herself, said the comments were an opportunity for the Miss USA organization to have a teaching moment, but it did not rise to the occasion

‘As a former pageant girl, I was third runner-up to Miss Teen Texas in 2002, I know that that title comes with a lot of responsibility,’ Savetsky said

‘When you enter a pageant and you win a crown, you become a role model,’ Savetsky added.

Miss USA R’Bonney Gabriel became the 9th Miss USA to win the global pageant in its 71-year history

Adding, ‘Are you kidding me? I was giving y’all the benefit of the doubt, but this is just embarrassing at this point.’ 

In her defense, Gabriel claimed that she was a brand ambassador for NIZUC’s affiliate company MIA Beaute, which also sponsors the Miss Texas pageant and was opening a new spa at the NIZUC resort in Mexico.

Doubters didn’t necessarily buy the excuse, however, noting that the founder of MIA is one of the judges at the Miss USA competition. O’Keefe claimed that Gabriel’s ambassadorship was a violation of the handbook and that no contestant should have been allowed to work with Miss USA national sponsors.

Controversy continued to spiral for Gabriel when a picture of Crystle Stewart, one of the Miss USA organizers, doing Gabriel’s hair backstage circulated. The picture served as greater fodder for the claim of favoritism.

However, Gabriel said the photo was snapped the day after the crowning just before official Miss USA headshots.