A Boston-area beauty queen has resigned as Miss Plymouth County 2018 following a satire performance during the Miss Massachusetts competition that made light of the #MeToo movement, CNN reports.
Maude Gorman says she was backstage earlier this month during the Miss Massachusetts pageant when she heard the ski and told CNN she “instantly knew I had to do something. It was going to eat away at me if I didn’t…we were all shocked. We said, ‘Oh my god. I cannot believe that just happened. Did that just really happen?’”
Gorman told CNN the connection to the movement is personal, revealing that she was gang raped by three men when she was 13. A description of the sketch reported by the Observer details a woman kneeling onstage, decrying the fact that Miss America will no longer have a swimsuit portion of its competition.
“Miss American did away with the swimsuit competition,” the woman reportedly said. ”We may have very well seen the last ever swimsuit competition on stage. It’s very upsetting and I’m trying to understand, God, why it happened.”
Then, a man described by the Observer to be dressed as God and holding a #MeToo sign, said “Me too, Amy.”
Gorman announced her resignation on Instagram, writing in part: “As both a survivor, and advocate for victims rights and sexual violence on a whole, I refuse to stand idly by and simply ‘let this go.’”
Speaking to CNN, Gorman elaborated, saying: “I wasn’t comfortable staying as Miss Plymouth County. It went against everything I have worked hard for. I was Miss Massachusetts World in 2015. I saw myself as a leader in the community and made appearances to speak out about sexual assault and tell my story.”
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