The new Miss Universe, Victoria Kjaer Theilvig, has a knack for courting controversy. The 21-year-old contestant from Denmark was crowned the winner of this year’s international pageant on Nov. 16 and has already found herself at the center of a storm.
The former Miss Denmark dropped the N-word in a TikTok video posted on Nov. 22 from the top of the Empire State Building in New York as she lip-synced to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind,” which includes the slur. Though the song is four and a half minutes long, Kjaer Theilvig homed in on that one specific lyric in her 14-second video.
Wearing her Miss Universe crown and her official sash, Kjaer Theilvig can be seen mouthing the lyric, “N-word, I be spiked out, I could trip a referee, Tell by my attitude that I’m most definitely from New York.”
The lip-syncing video is making the rounds online, sparking outrage mostly among white men railing against “cancel culture” and “woke white snowflakes” who find it offensive. While one commenter asked, “So white people can’t sing songs now?” another proclaimed that “Wokeism is over,” tagging #Trump.
“Miss Universe was lip-syncing a song that happened to have the N-Word in it and now they are trying to cancel her. I think it’s mostly because she’s White and beautiful and they can’t stand it,” posted one race-baiting comment.
Another said, “No controversy as a white man we claim her #1.”
Hailed by some as the “anti-woke winner,” Theilvig was nicknamed the “Human Barbie” in her native country for her resemblance to the doll. She made history as the first Dane to ever win the international competition, beating out 120 contestants, including the runner-up, Miss Nigeria, Chidimma Adetshina — who made history herself as the first Nigerian to secure a spot in the top 5.
Her win immediately stirred up the conversation around beauty standards. Within days, Donald Trump Jr. praised the animal rights activist and competitive dancer for her traditional looks.
“Biological & objectively attractive women are allowed to win beauty pageants again. WE ARE SO BACK,” Trump Jr. wrote on X on November 18.
The current CEO of Miss Universe, Anne Jakrajutatip, is a transgender Thai woman but ironically jumped on the “back to tradition” bandwagon. Shortly after Theilvig won the international competition, she and Jakrajutatip sat down for an interview with reporters. When asked about diversity, Jakrajutatip stated the pageant no longer needed to evolve.
“Evolution? We have blond and blue eyes, so we’re coming to the ultimate evolution already,” Jakrajutatip said, referencing how Theilvig is the first blond winner in 20 years. “We don’t need any more evolution here. We already got the best here.”
Miss Universe co-owner Raul Rocha, who acquired a 50 percent stake in the Miss Universe Organization in January, also shared Trump Jr.’s post on his Instagram page.
Notably, Donald Trump, who owned Miss Universe from 1996 to 2015, overruled the ban on women who weren’t biologically born female, letting trans beauty queens compete.
Theilvig’s visit to the Empire State Building was part of a ceremonial lighting to commemorate her win; that night, its top floors and spires were lit up in red and white, the colors of the Danish flag. For now, another video from the landmark remains up on her socials and continues to gain comments, mostly from white men.
