Just days into her reign, a newly crowned Miss France beauty queen finds herself facing accusations of racism and embroiling in a dispute among former winners.
The Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) has criticized 19-year-old medical student Marine Lorphelin for being ‘as white as snow,’ highlighting the absence of black and Arab contestants.
Labeling the contest as outdated and insulting to the country’s ethnic diversity, the organization sparked a furious response from supporters of Miss Lorphelin.
In a statement released alongside Fred Royer, the creator of Miss Black France, CRAN president Louis-Georges Tin expressed: ‘The failure to depict the modern French population in an event like this is obviously serious.
‘It effectively denies the very existence of French individuals of African descent.’
Didier Maisto, editor of Lyon Capitale, a publication from Miss Lorphelin’s home region of Burgundy, countered saying: ‘Such comments, which are aggressively anti-Republican, aim to pit French people against one another.’
Days after her victory, Auline Grac, a mixed-race contestant, won the alternative competition Miss Prestige.
Miss Lorphelin was scheduled to be interviewed on the Faut Pas Rater Ca talk show on public television station France 4 by Elodie Gossuin, last year’s Miss France and a supporter of Miss Prestige.
However, Sylvie Tellier, managing director of Miss France Company and a Miss France winner in 2002, prohibited Miss Lorphelin from being interviewed by her rival.
Television executives conceded and sent Miss Gossuin home, despite accusations of failing to maintain editorial independence.
Instead, Miss Lorphelin was interviewed by Isabelle Morini-Bosc, who inquired about a small scar on her nose.
Miss Lorphelin responded: ‘You noticed it. It was plastic surgery. I had a little crust on my nose during my adolescence, and it wasn’t very pretty.’
The statement from CRAN further added: ‘In the outdated Miss France world, it seems that black contestants can only originate from overseas departments.
‘Regarding Frenchwomen of North African descent, they were ‘represented’ by just one candidate who was promptly eliminated (perhaps due to being too Muslim?).
‘Miss France embodies the whiteness of the year-end snow on the steeples of an eternal France.’
by Lorelle Heath
