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Brittany Boltinhouse, the conservative Mormon woman who was named Miss North Carolina USA before her racist and bigoted social media posts led to her getting stripped of the title, has now filed a defamation lawsuit against the people who made that decision.
She says their statements led her to “suffer injury to her reputation, livelihood, professional relationships, and community standing.”
In case you need a reminder, Boltinhouse won the Miss North Carolina USA pageant back in June, which meant she would represent her state in the Miss USA pageant taking place this Thursday night.
But earlier this month, her victory was rescinded due to, as she put it, “my political stance and my belief system as a conservative Christian woman.”
Why was her title actually rescinded?
Turns out she had made several social media posts using racial slurs and promoting indefensible people and ideas.
The organization behind the pageant didn’t say any of this publicly. Instead, Miss USA’s President and CEO Thom Brodeur issued a statement saying his organization “does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity.” Furthermore, A Blaize Productions, which holds the license for Miss North Carolina USA, said that they revoked her title due to “previously undisclosed conduct and public content spanning multiple years that was inconsistent with the standards and responsibilities expected of a Miss North Carolina USA titleholder under the agreements governing the position.”
Despite all of that, Boltinhouse is now going after Brodeur, A Blaize Productions, and the company behind the Miss USA pageant for defamation.
In her lawsuit, filed on Sunday in the Duplin County Superior Court, Boltinhouse claims everyone she’s suing was out to get her… as if she did absolutely nothing wrong. It’s truly one of the most incredible “I’m the victim here” statements you’ll ever read and it reads like Boltinhouse is just ranting on social media.
… this case is about what Defendants did next: maliciously coordinating to publish a false public narrative portraying Brittany Boltinhouse as a racist, homophobe, transphobe, and intolerable bigot to be shunned from public life—then lied to the world that Brittany had confessed to being such an intolerant monster.
When these Defendants sicced an online mob on a young woman, they knowingly ensured her excruciating reputational destruction. Conspiring and understanding fully what they were unleashing, Defendants pretextually deployed Brittany’s nearly decade old social media posts as a teenager to remove her duly earned crown as Miss North Carolina USA. As the Defendants’ own audio recorded statements confirm, their true motivation was because Brittany’s political posts revealed she was a staunch supporter of President Trump, the assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and an open skeptic of President Biden’s “Transgender Day of Visibility.” Defendants’ coordinated publications generated devastating media coverage and instantly transformed Brittany’s public identity from the newly crowned Miss North Carolina USA into the target of widespread accusations of racism, homophobia, transphobia, and bigotry. Those accusations remain associated with Brittany’s name across the world.
First of all, if you’re a supporter of Trump and Charlie Kirk and an opponent of the Transgender Day of Visibility, then it’s absolutely fair to say you’re homophobic, transphobic, and a bigot. And if you use the N-word in social media posts (and you’re not Black), good luck fighting the racism charges. (Though she writes that her great-grandfather “ethnically self-identified all his life as a black, Afro Latino Honduran,” as if that makes her use of a slur okay.)
Boltinhouse also admits she was at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 (because of course she was) but that she went home right after Trump’s speech and never entered the Capitol. (Which could be perfectly true but still wouldn’t help make her look any better.)
It’s also ridiculous to pretend you were stripped of your title because you’re conservative when conservatives are basically the target audience for viewers of and participants in beauty pageants. (You think liberals are pushing to judge women for how they look in evening gowns and bathing suits?)
But this is a defamation suit. There needs to be proof that the Defendants purposely lied about Boltinhouse in order to defame her. What’s her proof?
Well, in regards to her use of the N-word, the lawsuit says Boltinhouse made those posts as a teenager and they “generated no comments, objections or outcry” at the time. But you could argue that she wasn’t a public figure then so no one was paying attention. If you run for office and people do a deep dive into your social media history (like people did with former Senate candidate Graham Platner), it’s fair game.
She also says the Defendants went after her because “she is a conservative Christian.” In that section, she admits that in 2024, she wrote that the mentality of Andrew and Tristan Tate (both alleged human traffickers) was “essential to have liberty and freedom.”
How can she possibly defend that? She writes that her “post about the Tate brothers… was no different from what prominent online members of the Trump family and Elon Musk have said.”
This woman is incapable of taking responsibility for any of the dumb shit she said, even in the recent past.
How does she prove the Defendants were out to get her? First, she claims they’re hypocrites. She says that when she competed in the Fitness portion of the Miss North Carolina USA pageant, the organizers played a Beyoncé song that includes the N-word in it. (It’s not clear from the lawsuit if that exact portion of the song was played when she walked across the stage, which seems like a very relevant detail!)
Another song that uses the N-word was also included in a social media post by Brodeur featuring a different contestant.
Boltinhouse writes:
If this conduct actually warranted removal from the pageant, surely Defendants would have immediately dethroned Miss West Virginia instead of amplifying her messaging.
That’s… an idiotic argument though. Playing a popular song with NSFW lyrics is very different from using the word in your own personal statements. Context matters. Boltinhouse seems unaware of that.
What’s her proof that her politics caused the Defendants to strip her of her title?
That section of the lawsuit is weirdly devoid of any proof. Instead, it notes how Brodeur posted on Instagram that “The Miss USA organization does not tolerate racism, homophobia, transphobia nor language that strips any person of their dignity”… followed much later by a section about how he had “seen Brittany’s statement [in response to all this]. There is ownership, accountability and apology. I respect that.”
In that same statement, by the way, Brodeur also writes about how “there is a young woman at the center of this… and she is still a human being with a family, a future, and a life ahead of her that is longer than this part of her journey” as a way to tell people to not treat Boltinhouse with disrespect.
Boltinhouse claims that Brodeur, with that statement, implied that she was apologizing for being racist and homophobic and transphobic. Which she did not do, she says, because she “is none of those things.”
Defendant Brodeur falsely, maliciously, wantonly and recklessly stated and implied that Brittany was a racist, homophobe, transphobe and bigot who should be shunned from public life, and that those qualities are why she lost her Miss North Carolina title.
(He very clearly did not imply she should be shunned from public life. If anything, he said the opposite.)
She hilarious adds that “No evidence exists to demonstrate Brittany Boltinhouse is or ever has been a racist, homophobe or transphobe” even though she spends a huge section of the lawsuit admitting to being a fan of Trump, Charlie Kirk, and the Tate brothers, and admits to using the N-word in casual posts on social media.
Another section of the lawsuit opens with a passage from Othello:
Calm down, lady.
Boltinhouse says in this section that she was sent a draft statement by A Blaize Productions that she could post on social media after losing her title. (This may have been the statement Brodeur was alluding to.) It gives her a chance to take responsibility for her problematic posts while also taking the high road. As far as a crisis PR statement goes, this one’s not bad.
… While this is incredibly difficult and heartbreaking, I respect the decision made by A Blaize Productions and the Miss USA Organization. I understand the responsibility that comes with representing an organization, and I recognize that my past actions and public statements have become a distraction from the mission and purpose of this title.
Over the past several days, I have been forced to confront parts of my past that I am not proud of. That has included a fight from my teenage years and social media posts I made as a young adult. Those words and actions were mine, and I take full responsibility for them. I do not seek to minimize them or make excuses for them.
To those who were hurt or disappointed by my past words or actions, I offer my sincere apology.
This experience has been painful, but it has also been humbling. It has reminded me that our words matter, our actions matter, and leadership requires accountability. While I cannot change the past, I can choose how I move forward, and I am committed to continuing to grow, listen, and become a better person.
Boltinhouse, however, never posted that. But everyone else was ready to move on and issued their own statements—including Brodeur, who referenced the statement from Boltinhouse that never ended up being public—which she now claims made her look bad.
She also cites, as evidence, an audio recording of the call she had with event organizers in which they told her why she was losing her title. At one point, an organizer says they’re personally offended she condemned the Transgender Day of Visibility because they’re trans themselves. In the recording, Boltinhouse openly admits she believes the Christian lie that then-President Joe Biden purposely designated that day to fall on the same day as Easter… even though, as many people have pointed out, that was purely a coincidence.
In other words, she cites the audio recording as proof that she was being picked on for her political views… even though her own transcribed comments make her look like a complete moron.
The organizers also told her in the phone call that there was no way to defend her statements because the repercussions would fall onto them. Supporting Boltinhouse’s bigotry would reflect poorly on an organization that celebrates diversity and inclusion.
Her defense? She had no idea the Tate Brothers were bad! Or that Charlie Kirk was a racist! She just “enjoyed their mentality” regarding finances and she had no idea Kirk said all these racist things (“You’re right,” she admits, when told about the horrific comments made by Kirk).
In other words, her defense for years of celebrating hate speech and awful people is that she’s too damn dumb to know what the hell she’s talking about. She believes that in itself should be proof that she’s not really bigoted. She’s just really fucking stupid. Therefore she deserves to be Miss North Carolina USA.
That phone call ended with the organizers telling Boltinhouse, “I’m so sorry, Brittany, again, to you”—their way of gently letting her down after explaining why they were revoking her title—which Boltinhouse then uses as evidence against them:
If the [Defendants] concluded her crown should be removed because Brittany was a racist, transphobe or homophobe, an apology would have been inappropriate to conclude the call.
Again, that’s just an idiotic thing to say. If you apply for a job and don’t get it, and the hiring person says, “I’m sorry, but you didn’t get the job,” that’s not proof of hypocrisy. That’s just them trying to soften the blow.
Boltinhouse then includes a transcript from a second call the same day, this one focused on what she should say to the public, including the pre-written statement she later chose not to post. Once again, the entire second call reads like someone trying to explain to an idiot why the totality of her public posts—and not just one thoughtless comment—is why she won’t be crowned Miss North Carolina USA.
Over and over, Boltinhouse doesn’t seem to understand any of this. She just acts like people are coming after her because she’s conservative, and religious, and a fan of the Tate Brothers’ financial advice.
The bottom line is that Boltinhouse is blissfully unaware of how racist, homophobic, transphobic, and downright stupid she is—and the moment people pointed it out to her, she decided to file a lawsuit that provides even more proof of her ignorance.
I guess she’s not familiar with the Streisand effect either.
The lawsuit doesn’t ask that Boltinhouse get the Miss North Carolina USA title back. Instead, it just goes after the Defendants for money for emotional distress, harm to her reputation, potential loss of income, etc.
You don’t have to be a lawyer to find the flaws in the case, though. You have a pageant winner who turns out to be a person with despicable, indefensible, bigoted views… to the point where organizers knew they couldn’t proudly promote her as their state winner. And when they tried to explain that to her, she doubled down on her own ignorance, claiming she had no clue any of these things were problematic. When the pageant organizers had to issue public statements, they were purposely vague, giving Boltinhouse the chance to leave with some dignity. She refused to take the offer. And now she’s decided that a lawsuit is her best path forward.
It’s just a whole series of bad decisions or bad advice. And there’s no reason this should get anywhere in a courtroom, much less lead to the jury trial she’s requesting.
It should be a reminder to everyone, though, that this is how conservative Christians act all the time when confronted with proof of their bigotry. Instead of just owning it, so many of them claim they’re victims of discrimination.
If only their faith taught them something about humility.
𝐼𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡, 𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐷𝑢𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑦 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡, 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒’𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑟… 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔.
The persecution complex is 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 with this one.
… 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐷𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡: 𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝐵𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑡, ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑏𝑒, 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑏𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒
It's not defamation if it's true. False public narrative? They were quoting you. Maliciously coordinating? The pageant made an announcement. Randos on the internet ran with it. Intolerable bigot to be shunned from public life? Bigot yes, shunned no. We want bigots to be as public as possible so we can fight against their bigotry. It's the hidden bogots that can the most dangerous.
She also lacks literacy skills:
There, their, they're.