Dethroned Miss North Carolina USA Hires Lawyer to Take ‘Legal Action’ After Pageant Strips Her of Title
Dethroned Miss North Carolina USA Hires Lawyer to Take ‘Legal Action’ After Pageant Strips Her of Title
Tabitha ParentTue, August 11, 2026 at 9:16 PM UTC
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Brittany Boltinhouse.Credit: espino.sosa/Instagram -
Brittany Boltinhouse has hired a lawyer after she was stripped of her Miss North Carolina USA title
Chairman Thom Brodeur said the decision followed what the organization described as conduct that violated its standards and occurred “over an extended period of time”
In a video statement, her attorney alleged that pageant officials lacked a legitimate reason for removing her crown and are conducting a national investigation
Brittany Boltinhouse, the former Miss North Carolina USA who was stripped of her pageant title, has retained a lawyer in connection with the incident.
In a video posted to Brittany Boltinhouse’s Instagram account on Aug. 10, Patrick Mincey, an attorney for the former pageant queen, shared that he had been hired to represent Brittany “in connection with anticipated legal action arising from the wrongful and unjustified stripping of the Miss North Carolina USA 2026 title.”
Brittany Boltinhouse and Patrick Mincey.Credit: Brittany Boltinhouse/Instagram
Mincey, who works for Mincey Bell Rhoades, a North Carolina law firm, added that the firm had been brought on to conduct a comprehensive “investigation into the circumstances surrounding the removal of Brittany’s crown” that would be “national in scope” and “sweeping in reach.”
He added that the investigation would be “focused on one objective: uncovering and presenting the full truth behind what appears to be another troubling example of cancel culture directed at a young woman because of her deeply held religious convictions and publicly expressed political beliefs.”
Mincey went on to claim that the investigation had already unearthed evidence, including “recorded statements that show pageant officials acknowledging the absence of any legitimate or legal basis for their decision to strip Brittany of her title.”
Mincey continued, claiming that pageant organizers had not “identified any specific conduct that would justify stripping Brittany of her crown.”
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Mincey also supported Boltinhouse’s own claim that she had been targeted and stripped of her title as a result of “her Christian faith and her conservative political views.”
On Aug. 5, the Miss USA Organization announced that Boltinhouse was no longer Miss North Carolina USA 2026. Thom Brodeur, chairman and CEO of Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, said that the decision was made jointly with the titleholder, her state directors and the organization following what it described as conduct that violated its standards.
In her first comments following the pageant’s decision, Boltinhouse said that she believed that she was stripped of her title because of her views as a “conservative Christian woman” while speaking with Carolina Journal editor-in-chief Donna King in an interview posted to YouTube on Friday, August 7.
Brittany Boltinhouse.Credit: espino.sosa/Instagram
When asked by King whether or not she believed that her “conservative political and social values” have “harmed” her during the pageant, Boltinhouse said, “I’m proud of my standards. I’m a proud conservative woman, but a Christian woman. I’m a God-fearing woman.” She also shared that because she had signed an agreement with a “confidentiality clause,” she was “not allowed to speak about things” that led to her losing her title.
“I’m very much at peace and I’m actually glad it happened to me and not some other young lady that, you know, maybe just probably wouldn’t make it through what I’m going through right now,” Boltinhouse continued.
“The scrutiny, my family behind it as well. But I will say that I’m very much at peace and I see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know who I am and I know what I can become.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
