Franki Russell will no longer compete for Miss Universe 2024
Actress Franki Russell ended her Miss Universe journey before the start of the official competition and allegedly this is the reason behind this.
Back in March, it was announced that the Filipino-New Zealander celebrity was appointed as the Miss Universe-New Zealand 2024. With this, she was set to represent the said country in the international pageant that was set to happen in Mexico in September. This made her supporters happy and excited about her pageant stint.
Previously. Franki revealed that back in 2014, she applied for Miss Universe-New Zealand but this was not a successful endeavor for her. She was just 19 years old back then.
Although the Miss Universe-New Zealand was given to her this 2024, she will not have the chance to represent her country in Miss Universe.
House of Yugen, local license holder of Miss Universe-New Zealand, announced that it is canceling its franchise.
“As a result of our team’s non-compliance with a specific order from the Miss Universe Organization, we have decided to cancel the franchise held by Yugen PR for Miss Universe New Zealand for 2024,” it stated.
No further details were revealed regarding this. However, an intriguing post was shared by pageant insider @titasofpageantry.
Based on the post, the Miss Universe Organization (MUO), did not like the fact that Franki Russell did some sultry movies under Vivamax, the online streaming platform of Viva Entertainment that caters to this movie genre. The former Pinoy Big Brother housemate starred in the movies Pabuya, Tag-init, and Laruan with sultry themes.
Allegedly, NZ’s local license owner decided to cancel the franchise to protect Russell. “They believe in Franki, that’s why they sided with her in this difficult decision,” the post stated.
As of this writing, Franki Russell has not spoken yet about this matter.