Why did Miss Universe CEO apologize to Miss Universe Kyrgyzstan Altynai Botoyarova and her country?

Miss Universe CEO Amy Emmerich uploaded an apology video to the beauty pageant’s official YouTube channel. She was seen standing next to Miss Kyrgyzstan 2021 Altynai Botoyarova, who was a contestant in the 71st installment of the pageant.

The CEO apologized on behalf of the organization as the hosts of the preliminary competition failed to name Kyrgystan during the live stream. In the video, Emmerich said that she wished to extend her apology to the people of the country and to Altynai.

She said:

"Unfortunately at the preliminary competition, our hosts failed to say Kyrgyzstan and give you the information that you deserve in the proper way. We need to do better, there is no excuse and we apologize."

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Miss Universe hosts fail to name Kyrgyzstan during the preliminary competition

On January 15, 2023, Miss Universe CEO Amy Emmerich publicly apologized to the people of Kyrgyzstan and Miss Kyrgyzstan 2021 Altynai Botoyarova on behalf of the hosts of the preliminary competition.

During the preliminary round, the hosts failed to mention Kyrgyzstan and kept referring to Altynai’s country as Kazakhstan, a neighboring country. While both are Asian countries and were previously a part of the Soviet Union, they were two separate countries.

Along with the YouTube video, the Miss Universe Organization also posted a statement that mentioned they pride themselves on being a space that gives women a platform to “expose their culture to the world.”

It further stated that the team offers an apology to Kyrgyzstan for failing to say the country’s name during the recent event in New Orleans and promised to do better in the future.

In response, the contestant, who was also present in the video, graciously accepted the apology and said that by taking the issue seriously, the pageant has proved to be the best competition. She said that she wanted to express her "deep gratitude" to the Miss Universe organization for proving why they are the "largest and the best competition."

Translated into English, she said:

"Thank you for your sincere apologies, I truly appreciate it. I am Miss Kyrgyzstan 2021 and I am proudly representing my country Kyrgyzstan here. I want to express my deep gratitude to the Miss Universe Organization for taking this issue seriously."

The round in question was hosted by WDSU and NBC’s Channel 6’s Randy Russo and the reigning Miss Universe Harnaaz Sandhu. The former winner also took to her social media account to issue an apology. In an Instagram story, she stated that she would never intentionally say or do anything to upset a contestant and their supporters.

She added:

"The preliminary competition was my first time ever co-hosting and the jitters got the best of me. My nervousness onstage is not a reflection of the deep respect I have for Kyrgyzstan. Altynai, please accept my sincerest apologies."

After Sandhu’s apology, Botoyarova took to social media to acknowledge it and empathize with the former winner. She stated that Harnaaz was most likely worried and mentioned that everyone makes mistakes.

Translated into English, she wrote:

"As you all already know, the Miss Universe pageant made a mistake about my country. I was introduced 4 times as Kazakhstan. But today, they apologized. On the one hand, I understand the presenter Harnaaz Kaur Sandhu, most likely she was worried. And sometimes there are such mistakes when worried."

She also went on to mention that she was "grateful" to the Miss Universe management for their apology and stated it was a sign of their "professionalism."