Pageant: Beauty Queen Stole $100K Crown

May Myat Noe is accused of lying and cheating
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 29, 2014 7:00 PM CDT
Pageant: Deposed Beauty Queen Stole $100K Crown
In this June 5, 2014 photo, Myanmar model May Myat Noe waves a miniature flag of Myanmar upon her arrival at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar.   (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Organizers of an Asian beauty pageant say their now-deposed queen is a rude liar who stole their $100,000 bejewelled crown, Australia's News Network reports. In a statement, the Asia Pacific World pageant accuse May Myat Noe of disrespecting the organization and turning a planned 10-day trip to Seoul into a pricey three-month stay. Now event directors want the tiara back: "She thinks as long as she keeps this crown she's the winner," media rep David Kim tells the AP. "She's not." According to the pageant, things went sour when they convinced the 18-year-old to get bigger breasts for future video and singing deals.

The pageant footed the $10,000 bill: "It's our responsibility," Kim said. "If she has no good nose, then maybe, if she likes, we can operate on her nose. If it's breasts, then breasts." But Kim says Noe's resulting trip to Seoul with her mom dragged on for months in an "illegal attempt" to obtain a visa, the Daily News reports (a power clash between event organizers and Noe's mom may be fueling all this, says the BBC). Either way, many fans on Facebook are taking Noe's side and dismissing the pageant's statement. Noe was seen as a pioneer for prospective beauties in her native Myanmar, which allowed women to enter pageants for the first time in 2012 when military rule was lifted. (Read about a beauty queen who lost her title for being "too old"—and sued.)

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