SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: A judge dismissed a $3 million lawsuit filed by a former beauty queen whose title was taken away for purported attitude problems and who sought to be reinstated as Puerto Rico’s Miss Universe representative.
Superior Court Judge Eduardo Rebollo said in his ruling that Kristhielee Caride’s behavior violated the terms of her contract with PR Crown Entertainment and the company was within its rights to sever the relationship.
“Her dismissal was justified,” Rebollo wrote.
Caride’s attorney, Ernie Caban, suggested on Twitter that the ruling discriminated against Caride because of her social status.
“Power prevails over the limitations of a queen from a public housing complex,” he wrote.
The ruling concluded a nearly weeklong trial that captivated pageant fans on an island known for its beauty queens, with TV stations interrupting regular programming to show testimony.
Rebollo cited several incidents, among them Caride’s refusal to have her hair color or style altered; a newspaper interview in which she gave only terse answers to questions and said she did not love cameras; and her failure to appear on a local TV entertainment program because she said traffic made it too hard to reach the studio.
A shoe sponsor also declined to work with her despite having paid for the right to use Caride’s image because they considered her a “risk” given her behavior, according to testimony.
Desiree Lowry, national director of Miss Universe Puerto Rico, testified that she asked Caride to call the newspaper reporter after the interview and apologize for her behavior.
“She looked at me with a face that said, ‘Are you serious?’” Lowry said.
In addition, Lowry testified that Caride refused to go to the salon that PR Crown Entertainment employed and used her own stylist instead.
At trial, Caride defended her decision and accused salon employees of being disrespectful.
“I’m not going to a place where I’m not wanted,” she said. “I’m not going to a place where they are constantly rubbing in my face the Miss Universe candidate from San Juan. It’s not my fault that girl didn’t win.”
Puerto Rico beauty queen loses case
Puerto Rico beauty queen loses case
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
