A model who pretended to sniff cocaine while taking part in the Miss Universe beauty pageant has apologised – and claimed her make up artist encouraged her to do it.
Inna Moll, who entered the competition as Miss Chile, recreated the social media craze by sprinkling make up powder on her wrist and ‘snorting’ it to Shakira’s dance anthem Addicted to You while in Thailand.
She then faced a backlash from her followers, with one X user accusing her of ‘making Chile look bad.’
Critics have said she could jeopardise her place in the competition, which is due to go ahead on November 21.
In a public apology in a social media video, she said: ‘I want to sincerely apologise to anyone who felt they were taken advantage of and I’d also like to explain the situation.
‘The person who uploaded that video was a make up artist – this make up artist told me “record this” and it could’ve been a language barrier or maybe we weren’t understanding each other, [but] I told him no.
‘But he just kept going, going, going and with everything that’s going on, obviously I didn’t refuse.
‘I should’ve just flat out refused and not done it but that’s how the video went. I’m so sorry if anyone felt taken aback.’
After apologising, Inna remained upbeat about her chances in the competition.
Addressing her fans in the video, she said: ‘I love you so much … this is just the beginning so I’m super excited to give it my all and don’t worry, no one is going to take away my desire to do things right – I love you so much and see you soon.’
In an Instagram post tagging Inna, an account named Eak_makeup apologised to the model directly.
The account, which features photos of Inna and other Miss Universe contestants, said: ‘I’m deeply sorry for what happened. I sincerely apologise to Miss Chile and everyone involved.
‘What I did was thoughtless and without any hidden intent to harm the contestant or the country’s image. It was merely a piece of content following a current online trend.
‘I assure you that something like this will not happen again.’
Some of her fans have now reassured the star, one with stating: ‘We accept your apology! It’s obvious it wasn’t meant to be malicious.’
Another added: ‘Thank you very much for your apology; that speaks very well of you. I hope this doesn’t damage our queen’s participation.’
This is not the first controversy the pageant has faced in recent weeks.
In early November, pageant organiser and co-owner of Miss Universe Nawat Itsaragrisil, appeared to call Miss Mexico ‘dumb’, sparking a mass walkout by contestants.
Mr Nawat had publicly berated Mexico’s Fátima Bosch for not taking part in activities to promote hosting nation Thailand.
When she objected to failing to post promotional content, Mr Nawat called security and threatened to disqualify people supporting her, the BBC reported earlier this month.
Miss Mexico then left the room, with others joining her in solidarity, but since then Mr Nawat has apologised.
Victoria Kjær Theilvig of Denmark, who supported Fátima in her walkout, wears the Miss Universe crown ahead of the competition hosted at the Impact Challenger Hall in Pak Kret, Thailand, on November 21.
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