With the start of the Miss Universe season, the Miss Universe Mexico, Fatima Bosch, got disrespected on November 4 in Thailand by the Thailand host.
The incident occurred during a live-streamed sash ceremony where the Host, Nawat Itsaragrisil, accused Bosch of not participating in a sponsored social media campaign to promote Thailand. Itsaragrisil called Bosch names like “Dumb,” insulting her in front of a crowd. Itsagrisil also said, “You don’t like to post everything because your Director from Mexico ordered you to not pay any attention, to post about the host country? If you follow the orders from your national director, you are dumb.”
When Bosch tried to explain herself, Itsaragrisil just spoke over her not letting her talk and saying “I didn’t hear you asking to talk”. All of this led to security being involved and threatening to disqualify anyone who leaves the room.
In response to all this, Bosch said, “You are not respecting me as a woman,” adding on this, Bosch told Itsaragrisil, “As women, you need to show respect for us. I’m here representing a country, and it’s not my fault that you have problems with my organization.” And after she said her statement, she left the room head held high not letting a man take her down. Many other contestants then followed after Bosch to show their support.
The Miss Universe Organization (MUO) has released a statement saying that Itsaragrisil’s behavior and actions were “malicious” and “public aggression” and has now restricted his participation in any future events.
A video of this incident was posted on social media, causing people to hate on Itsaragrisil. After Itsaragrisil saw all the hate he was receiving, he gave a public and tearful apology on November 5, saying that his words were “misunderstood.” Itsaragrisil also added on, “I’m human. I didn’t want to do anything like that.” He followed up with an apology to the delegates in-person during a pageant ceremony. In the apology, Itsaragrisil reinstated the words he said in his public announcement. “I want to take this opportunity to say something that’s happened. Because I am a human. I think you must understand the pressure is a lot, I am a human sometimes. I cannot control. By the way, I have not intend to hurt anyone.” Itsaragrisil also went on to apologize to the Miss Universe community and all those people around the world who got upset by this controversy.
Many people around the world got upset by Itsaragrisil’s behavior towards Bosch. The comments were so negative that Itsaragrisil got so much pressure from the internet at a point where he had to make an apology video.
This is not the first time that Itsaragrisil has done something like this. He has been accused of terrible treatment to women, and also has a history of body shaming contestants. For example, in 2016, Itsaragrisil was found commenting about Miss Iceland’s body, Arna Yr Jonsdottir. “Stop eating breakfast, eat just salad for lunch, and drink water every evening until the contest,” Itsaragrisil intoned. In my opinion, this situation and Itsaragrisil’s behavior was ridiculous, acting like he owned the girls there, and also how Itsaragrisil was being racist towards Bosch.
