The Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants have been pulled from The CW just a week before they were scheduled to broadcast, after the two sides said they could not finalize the production terms needed to keep the telecasts on the network.
Miss Teen USA had been set to air Wednesday, and Miss USA on Thursday, as part of the network’s return to carrying the pageants after skipping the 2025 broadcast. Instead, both events will stream on the Queen Beauty Network, as they did last year.
Neither side detailed the underlying issue. In a statement, The CW said it had decided to forego next week’s broadcasts of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants following talks with the Miss USA Organization.
The Miss USA Organization, in a statement posted to its Instagram Stories, said it had identified a contractual issue with our production arrangements two weeks earlier and had tried without success to preserve the CW broadcast. This year’s competition, being held in Miami, marks Miss USA’s 75th anniversary, according to The Express Tribune.
The CW aired the pageants in 2023 and 2024, formalizing a three-year deal a few months before the 2024 telecast, TheWrap reports. That arrangement did not hold, however, and last year’s competitions streamed on the Queen Beauty Network instead of airing on the network — making 2026 the second year in a row the pageants have missed broadcast television.
The broadcast shakeup adds to a turbulent stretch for the Miss USA Organization. The Miss Universe Organization, which licenses the Miss USA franchise, transferred operating rights last September to Brodeur Beauty founder Thom Brodeur, who described the arrangement as a 10-year exclusive license, succeeding former Miss USA Organization CEO Laylah Rose. Miss USA 2023 Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA 2023 UmaSofia Srivastava both relinquished their titles in 2024 amid allegations that Ms. Rose had fostered a toxic workplace, allegations Ms. Rose denied.
Earlier this year, the organization stripped Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse of her title, with Mr. Brodeur citing conduct that violated the organization’s standards against racism, homophobia and transphobia. The move followed the resurfacing of old social media posts attributed to Ms. Boltinhouse. Ms. Boltinhouse has said she believes her conservative Christian beliefs were the real reason for her removal, and her attorney has said she has retained counsel in anticipation of legal action against the pageant organizers.
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