Today, South African newspaper City Press ran a story where they hinted that current Miss South Africa Sasha-Lee Olivier is pregnant with her first child after being tipped off with an image of the star sitting at a bar in a mustard dress looking bloated. The newspaper approached the Miss South Africa organisation and asked for comment and were told that the rumours are not true. However, the publication ran with the story regardless.
In a statement released by the organization, the Miss South Africa group says that it’s “appalled with the article that appeared in City Press”. “The Miss South Africa Organisation replied [to the enquiry], stating categorically that Sasha-Lee is not pregnant. It was left at that. We did not condone entering into any salacious debate about Sasha-Lee’s body given the degrading and discriminatory intentions of this article,” the organisation said in a statement.
In the article, City press wrote: “If it’s true that there is a bun in the oven, it would be the first big scandal to hit South Africa’s most popular pageant. She would have gone against the pageant rules, which are quite clear that you cannot be pregnant when you enter – or even after – you are crowned.”
The publication backed up its statements with comments from “former Miss SA coordinator Thobile Sithole” who, according to the organisation, has “no knowledge of any such person and can state that no-one of that name has worked on the pageant since 2013. To this end, the Miss South Africa Organisation is further appalled by the lack of vetting utilised when asking for official comment and representation from the organisation itself.”
Now, the organisation has revealed that it is planning on taking legal action against the publication. “In a week in which President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks out against Gender Based Violence, the Miss South Africa Organisation is horrified about the story and would like to put the following on record: Sasha-Lee Olivier is not pregnant. City Press was told this in no uncertain terms.”
The organisation adds “The article is pure body shaming, implying that if Sasha-Lee is not pregnant then she is fat. Let us put it on the record that Sasha-Lee Olivier is a real person and is deeply hurt by what appeared.
“As part of the 2019 campaign, Sasha Lee stood as an advocate for fuller figure women and expanded on the organisation’s prior representations of beauty. We as an organisation stand strong with Sasha Lee with this understanding of beauty and do not take lightly to any form of body shaming and discrimination which is intended to disempower and humiliate her.
“The Miss South Africa Organisation will be taking legal advice and action.”
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