“She missed her moment” when cops crashed the pageant
By Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief
Annually, contestants, guests, and former and current queens gather for the annual Ms. Gay Oklahoma America (MGOA) pageant held in Oklahoma City. This year, the event was July 26-28.
But this event was one like no other. The pageant included events never seen before with the arrest of the outgoing MGOA, Alysha Davenport Brooks. She was arrested on a 2014 bench warrant for missing payments for fees on a felony charge from 2013.
Shantel Mandalay, the current MGOA CEO of Miss Gay Oklahoma Alumni Board, said she “was asked to handle things” since CEO at the time, Adriana, was out of town.
“I was unaware and uninformed of the call to police,” said Mandalay. “I didn’t really know what was happening. I was getting ready to go on stage. I saw the police over there [near Brooks], and someone said, ‘they’re getting Alysha.’”
Mandalay said she did not know what that meant until she observed what was happening. Brooks was being arrested.
“Then, Ms. Gay America, Deva Station said, ‘We will not mention this or speak of it. Anyone who does will be removed from the event,’ and the show went on.”
“Later, I received a phone call from an individual that Renee [Hilton] was not involved. The individual said I needed to do something because someone is going to get hurt. I told them can’t do anything because I don’t know anything.”
Soon after that conversation, Mandalay received a call from Ry’Lee Hilton, MGOA 2016.
“She told me she was the one who made the call. She felt it was her civic duty because rules were not being followed. I told her she should have come to the board and she said she felt like nothing would be done, that is why she took it upon herself.”
From there, Mandalay called Station, who contacted the National Ms. Gay America Pageant.
“I contacted Ry’Lee, and she put together a statement. That was next in line for us to do,” Mandalay said.
“That’s why it is an unfortunate incident, and if the proper communication had been followed, we wouldn’t be in the shape we are in,” Mandalay said.
She added the Miss Gay America Oklahoma organization was contacted by someone, but, “I don’t have the details on those conversations.”
On or about July 31, Ry’Lee Hilton posted on her Facebook page her admission of making the call.
Hilton the following questions by The Gayly via FB message:
1. Why would you report a person with an outstanding warrant, particularly without knowing a location to report where they could be picked up?
2. On your Facebook post, you did not “contact the Miss Gay Oklahoma America Alumni Board (MGOA AB) prior to the phone call [to the authorities]. However, it has been presented to The Gayly that you, in fact, were the person who called the MGOA board. Could you comment on this accusation?
3. Anything you would like to add about how you feel about what has happened and how it has changed your perspective on life?
Hilton replied by simply stating, “I have been told that no comment is best.”
However, we asked Brooks similar questions, and she replied with the following:
The sad part is I don’t think the
It’s all so shocking still as I sit here wondering what exactly [what] did I do to deserve that type of public humiliation at an event that I've spent a majority of my life wanting to be a part of. I close that chapter of my being escorted out in handcuffs in front of my peers, family, and friends.
at 9:50 pm that someone called in on me. Ten minutes before my opening. Let’s be clear that I was unaware that I even had a warrant until it was brought to my attention two weeks prior to the contest. Many people knew of my incident from back in 2013, and I wasn't hiding anything. Matter of fact on the night of Mr. Oklahoma, I gave out service awards. One of the recipients was very instrumental in helping me get my personal life back on track after I literally lost everything, and I talked about it openly on stage.28th“I realized on July
1. When did you realize someone had called and reported you?act really had anything to do with me directly, but more so a way to get back at the MGOA board and maybe a little jealousy.
I’ve had a rapport withnumerousMissOklahomas since I was 19 years old. I’ve danced did makeup and been very hands-on since Kitty Bob Aimes won. These ladies were my sister’s way before I won. Sometimes people can’t handle it when you’re on the outside looking in wanting to be in!”
2. Do you know, for a fact, who called the MGOA board and, if yes, who told you who it was who called them?
“I don’t know who called the board CEO, but that was two weeks before the contest. Someone deliberately called the police the night of the pageant. And the only reason why I know that they called that night was because the police officer told me when I was going to see the nurse before being booked.
The police officer told me he said someone called them and told them what time the contest was going to start, what my name was and where they could find me. He asked me ‘did I know’ who would do that to me because the City of Oklahoma City was not looking for me. I told him that I've had someone in mind, but I wasn't quite sure.
She [Hilton] never came to the forefront of my mind because she has always been so supportive of me and very nice to me so I didn't think that she did it directly I thought that she knew maybe who did but I never thought it would have been her. That makes me sad. She crowned me.
3. Anything you would like to add about how you feel about what has happened and how it has changed your perspective on life?
“With so much going on in our world living in a Trump's America, I feel like our communities need to stick together in a lot of areas outside of the pageant world and all that kind of stuff. But this community showed me that this pageant system is still very relevant. People still believe in the system they have a love for the representative and they are not going to take someone being bullied or publicly shamed lightheartedly.
I have to say thank you to so many people. I just don't have enough words to thank the people. I will forever be Miss Oklahoma America 2017, and nobody can take that away from me. Maybe I didn't get to have my final night, but I know that I was loved that night and that at the end of the day I'm going to be okay.
This event doesn’t change my perspective on life. I will continue to live life for me and no one else; continue to treat people the way I want to be treated. Continue to work for the system that has brought me so much joy since I was literally a teenager and hope that my experience is a lesson to the girls coming up. We all make a choice, good and bad. Learn from those choices, move forward and live your best life unapologetically!
The Gayly asked an attendee of the event their thoughts. “You know, when the police got there, they didn’t know what she [Brooks] looked like or anything,” said entertainer Gizele Monáe . “Someone even had to point her out on the wall of pictures of formers [contestants], because they didn’t even know who they were looking for.”
Monáe said she wants people to know this is not petty drag drama. “It’s someone’s life and livelihood. Someone lost work over this, and she never saw it coming.
“People don’t realize how hard Alysha worked for this title. She had competed for years for this title. In 2017, she finally won and to have it end like this is a tragedy.”
Monáe added in closing, “While we don’t have any proof Renee was involved, when Shanel [Sterling] was crowned, who was not there then? Riley and Renee [Hilton].”
Although Monáe was not there when Shanel was crowned, Pariis Nycole Davenport was.
“I was competing in the pageant. Renee & Ry’lee were hosting and were there throughout the evening,” said Davenport. “Strangely, they disappeared at the end of the night during crowning pictures.”
Davenport said Brooks missed out on the event, and being in photos that evening as well as not being present for the category she was hosting.
“She missed her moment.”
Rob Mansman & Michael Dutzer, owners of the Miss Gay America and Mr. Gay America pageants, sent The Gayly this statement:
“As the majority of the pageant community is well aware, we recently had an incident at the Miss Gay Oklahoma America pageant. There is an active investigation into the scope of those involved and to what ends those people were trying to achieve.
Please be advised that we are currently looking into this, and reprimand will be issued in accordance with our rules and regulations.
We would like to stress that ongoing attacks on those directly involved or those accused of being involved have reached an incredibly alarming state. The court of public opinion is never a fair venue for accurate punishment or retaliation, and we encourage everyone to act in a manner which will neither jeopardize others, nor themselves.
As of this writing, a final decision by the committee and owners on how to proceed had not been made.
Brooks is released from confinement and, in closing, said, “I’m a strong cookie.”
READ OUR UPDATE: shocking information about Ry'Lee Hilton & Renee Hilton and the MGOA pageant.
READ HERE where Caesar's Entertainment abruptly stopped all "Frank Marino's Divas Las Vegas" shows.
Copyright The Gayly. 8/6/2018 @ 3:26 p.m. CST.