During a November 4 meeting with the Miss Universe contestants, Nawat Itsaragrisil, who was recently named the director of Miss Thailand and host for the 74th Miss Universe competition in Bangkok, confronted Miss Mexico Fátima Bosch and accused her of not participating in a promotional event for the pageant.
In the exchange, which was captured on Miss Universe Thailand’s Facebook livestream, Itsaragrisil goes back and forth with Bosch as he criticizes the Miss Mexico team. The other Miss Universe contestants can be seen on the livestream, silently watching from their seats.
“If you listen to your director, you’re a dumbhead,” Itsaragrisil appears to tell Bosch during the livestream. He later told reporters that the word he had used was “damage.”
“I have a voice,” Bosch told Itsaragrisil after he told her, “I did not give you an opportunity to talk.”
“You are not respecting me as a woman,” she added.
Multiple Miss Universe contestants walked out of the room after Itsaragrisil, who also runs the Miss Grand International pageant, called for security to remove Bosch. The director demanded that the contestants return to their seats, saying: “If anyone wants to continue the contest, sit down.”
Bosch ultimately decided to stay in the competition, sharing her reason in an Instagram caption. “Mexicans don’t give up because giving up has never been part of our history,” she wrote on November 6.
Representatives for Bosch, Itsaragrisil, and the Miss Universe Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
