Bolivia’s Miss Universe beauty pageant is being sued for comments she made in a video about her fellow contestants.
A local city government is trying to ban Maria Fernanda Pavisic, 23, from the competition after she posted on her Instagram account what were seen as derogatory towards other contestants.
The mayor’s office of the South American city of Potosí filed a complaint with the South American nation’s prosecutor’s office, accusing Maria Fernanda Pavisic of discrimination and racism.
The municipality of Potosí is also trying to strip her of the Miss Bolivia title.
Miss Bolivia Maria Fernanda Pavisic has come under fire after she posted a video to Instagram last week calling Miss Paraguay, Miss Brazil and Miss El Salvador “old ladies” and saying that Miss Venezuela and Miss Peru are “transsexuals “ were similar. In the video clip, the 23-year-old model and psychology student referred to Miss Argentina as “Miss Potosí” — Potosí is a city in southern Bolivia. The municipality’s mayor’s office filed a complaint with the South American nation’s attorney’s office, accusing them of discrimination and racism
Miss Bolivia, Maria Fernanda Pavisic, will represent the South American nation in the Miss Universe 2023 pageant to be held on January 4 in New Orleans
Pavisic made the comments in a video posted to her Instagram stories last week. She is taking part in the Miss Universe 2023 pageant which is scheduled to take place on January 4th in New Orleans.
She referred to Miss Paraguay, Miss Brazil and Miss El Salvador as “old ladies” and claimed that the beauty queens representing Ecuador, Aruba and Curaçao all belong in the “thanks for attending” category.
Pavisic referred to Miss Argentina as “Miss Potosí” and said that Miss Venezuela and Miss Peru resembled “transsexuals”.
Miss Peru, Gianella Paz, was among the Miss Universe hopefuls who received derogatory remarks from Miss Bolivia, María Fernanda Pavisic. The Bolivian beauty queen said on Instagram that Paz is part of the “thanks for participating” group
Miss Venezuela Luiseth Materan was among the Miss Universe contestants criticized by Miss Bolivia Maria Fernanda Pavisic who said she and Miss Peru looked like “transsexuals”. The remark was made in a video Pavisic posted to Instagram last week
During a video intended to be used as a “social experiment,” Miss Bolivia said that Miss Curacao, Chantal Wiertz, was in the Miss Universe 2023 category, “Thank you for attending.”
Miss Ecuador, Susan Toledo (pictured), would be part of the “Thank you for entering” category if the Miss Universe pageant had one, according to Miss Bolivia
Pavisic, who is from the Santa Cruz area, then posted a video apologizing to attendees and saying her original comments were part of a “social experiment.”
“There have been many Misses Bolivia, but my intention has always been to bring about change. For a long time I’ve been posting positive content, self love, working with my social project and showing my culture,” she wrote on Instagram.
Pavisic argued that the purpose of her video was to show that social media users always tend to share content that is seen as negative, rather than posts that carry a positive message.
“People choose to support the negative, but I risked everything to leave a message. I’ve always said that it’s not what people say about you that matters, it’s what you think of yourself and this is clear proof that the last thing that matters are the comments, but it’s important to me to make a change or at least get people watching this video to start thinking!’ She wrote.
Miss Bolivia apologized for her comments on Instagram and said the video was part of a “social experiment” designed to show that social media users tend to share more negative than positive content
Pavisic said it was not her intention to try to cause as little harm as possible to the candidates with derogatory comments (there are no insults) and I apologize again because I’m not the one judging, making fun of or make it hard (like no one should).’
Despite their sincere apologies, the Potosian authorities felt this was insufficient.
“She has slandered the Potosian woman, she has neither merit nor morals to represent Bolivia in an international competition,” Potosí mayoral adviser Richard Alejo told The Associated Press.
Roxana Graz, head of the Potosí Civic Committee, called on Promociones Gloria, who is in charge of the Miss Universe franchise in Bolivia, to remove Pavisic as Miss Bolivia.