Officials of the Miss Universe Australia Pageant are divided about whether its new queen should turn in her tiara after it was revealed she had posed topless for a men’s magazine.
Erin McNaught, a part time model who won the crown earlier this month, has not commented on the controversy when some pageant officials decried her topless photo shoot as unworthy of Miss Australia, according to The Sunday Mail.
McNaught, 24, had shot the photos for Zoo Weekly magazine before she won the pageant.
But Jonathan Westbrook, who was among the pageant judges, said the young model should be stripped of her title and not be allowed to compete in the upcoming Miss Universe Pageant to take place in Los Angeles on July 23.
“She is not the sort of wholesome role model we are looking for,” Westbrook said.
Likewise, pageant coordinator Deborah Miller said McNaught is not fit to wear the crown and that she is “dragging the contest into the gutter.”
But Pageant Director Jim Davie said McNaught has not done anything wrong and should be allowed to represent her country, citing the number of other models who have had risqué photos published.
Meanwhile, McNaught’s friends have rushed to her defense, saying she is worthy of wearing the pageant crown.
