Miss America Kira Kazantsev Denies Getting Kicked Out Of Hofstra University Sorority For Vicious Hazing

Miss America 2015 winner Kira Kazantsev has come under fire just over a week after winning her crown.

The beauty queen apparently has a dark side, according to Jezebel.com, which reports that she and a friend were kicked out of Hofstra University’s Alpha Phi sorority in early 2013 for the abusive hazing of pledges.

A source told the website that the honors student, who is fluent in three languages, made life a “living hell” for the sorority’s new recruits by calling them names, pointing out their physical flaws and making them do tasks that would leave them exausted and bruised. Jezebel’s source claims to be one of the pledges on the receiving end of the abuse.

Kazantsev denied the hazing allegations on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, saying, “They are not true. I’m incredibly hurt that someone has said these things.”

The third consecutive Miss New York to win the Miss America title, Kazantsev says that she was involved with hazing under a more “broad definition,” and “never ever in a million years” acted in the manner her accuser claims.

Kira does admit that she was asked to leave the sorority during her senior year at Hofstra, but for a completely different reason.

“I was asked by a New Member Educator when I was a senior to reach out to the alumni base to have an event of sorts,” she explained on GMA. “In the email I basically made a joke and that was taken out of context and forwarded to the national office [of the sorority].”
Kira’s “joke” was that the girls would “make the evening scary for the pledges,” something she adds never happened. “…[N]one of those things that I’ve been accused of ever happened or were ever intended to happen.”The Miss America Organization released a statement addressing the story on Monday, saying that its new Miss America has been “fully transparent” with them.

“It’s unfortunate that this incident has been exploited to create a storyline that distracts from what we should be focusing on: Kira’s impressive academic achievements at Hofstra University, including earning a triple major from the Honors College and her commitment to serving her community,” the organization said in its statement. “Kira is an exceptional ambassador for the MissAmerica Organization, and we are excited to be a part of her journey as a force for good across our nation, promoting education and service and working to empower young women.”Kira took to her personal blog on Tuesday to further address the issue, writing, “I was never involved with any name-calling or use of profanity toward a girl during my time with the sorority. I was never involved in any physical hazing or any degradation of physical appearance of any kind. This has all been immensely taken out of context and manipulated purposefully because I am now in a public position.”

Kira added that she was removed from the sorority because she missed a hearing with the national office over her “joke” and they passed judgment against her in her absence.

“Finals, graduation, and moving to New York City were at the forefront of my concerns,” she explains as the reasons for not attending.
The controversy isn’t the first in her first 10 days as the face of the organization. Shortly after her win she came under fire from National Right to Life activists for her internship at Planned Parenthood while at Hofstra.
The organization also defended her in a statement, saying, “She devoted her time to providing sex education to young people in her community, helping make sure they received complete and accurate information so they could keep themselves safe and healthy.”