Meet Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip; the owner of Miss Universe - and her controversy over the winner

Miss Universe 2023 took place on Saturday evening, under the new ownership of trans businesswoman Anne Jakkaphong Jakrajutatip, also known in media circles as Anne JKN.

The media entrepreneur bought the rights to the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants for $20 million US in October 2022, with the 2023 pageant the first under her helm.

While all eyes should be on how the event unfolded under the new patronage of the JKN Global Group CEO, who promised to expand the cause of women empowerment among those who are disenfranchised by poverty and gender discrimination, it is instead looking at her links to Miss USA and Miss Universe winner, R'Bonney Gabriel.

Gabriel has already been the butt of some jokes on social media for one of the costumes she wore during the event, but those jokes have now turned into calls of rigging - from rigging the Miss USA contest to now rigging the Miss Universe contest in favour of the first Filipina-American winner during the history of the ceremony, including those years that the former president Donald Trump preceded over.

So how did Miss Universe 2023 transform from an event looking to demonstrate the empowerment women have when competing at the event with a trans entrepreneur at the helm from Donald Trump, into the controversy that surrounds it in the cold light of Monday daytime?

PeopleWorld takes a look at Anne JKN, how Miss Universe moved from Trump to JKN and what those links are between the new Miss Universe owner and the now-reigning Miss Universe that have elicited cries of foul play.

Anne JKN forms the JKN Global Group

The eldest of three siblings, Anne JKN is the daughter of Mr. Ashira Suthisataporn and Mrs. Ampai Jakrajutatip, who ran a successful video rental store in Thailand which led to Anne discovering the world of video distribution and media licensing - a skill that would help foster a media empire Anne JKN would soon control in her homeland.

She later attended university studies in Queensland, Australia and studied international relations at Bond University, earning a certificate of Real Estate Development from Chulalongkorn University and completing a Director Accreditation Program from the Thai Institute of Directors Association.

Her experiences led to the formation of JKN Global Group in 2013, a conglomerate that dealt in commodities such as beverages, cosmetics, health products and energy drinks, while diversifying those portfolios with investments in content distribution, entertainment, events, television advertisement, and television programming - which paved the way for Anne JKN garnering both the license and hosting the Thai version of Project Runway.

Those latter two portfolios would prove pivotal for the approach to buy Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA; JKN Global Group owns the television networks – JKN18 and JKN-CNBC, which is a collaborative effort between JKN and NBCUniversal meaning that there would already be a dialogue in screening the event in Thailand and the United States.

Acquiring Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA

History was made in October 2022, with the news that JKN Global Group had bought the rights to Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA under the conglomerate’s JKN Metaverse subsidiary. It marked the first time in the 71 years of the pageant that a female had owned the franchise - a franchise that Donald Trump had helmed from 1996 to 2002, during the heyday of his presenting role on The Apprentice.

During the announcement, JKN shared its plans for generating additional value based on the natural strength of the Miss Universe brand, including the upcoming debut of MU Lifestyle: a new licensing and merchandising arm of The Miss Universe Organization. The more telling aspects came when Anne JKN was interviewed by Reuters after the purchase.

“It’s a universal platform... I can become the aspiration for so many people, in particular women, LGBTQ, so they can transform,” Anne JKN said, who has long been an advocate for trans rights after creating the Life Inspired for Transsexual Foundation, a charity organisation that advocates for transgender rights in Thailand. “I learned to get through pain, therefore I prepared myself to be ready all the time... I turned pain into power.”

Miss USA controversy

We’ve mentioned a few times that JKN Global Group has the rights to both Miss Universe and Miss USA - which all plays into calls that Miss Universe 2023 was rigged in favour of R'Bonney Gabriel from the outset of her involvement during Miss USA 2022.

Not quite a case of public favour turning against the winner after Miss Venezuela, Amanda Dudame, was many viewers' favourite over the past weekend, there had been instances where other contestants have been vocal about the 'favourable treatment' Miss USA received during her ascension.

As far back as the Miss USA preliminaries, fellow contestants spoke out about the perceived favouritism Gabriel was receiving from organisers and make-up artists. “Most of the contestants feel very strongly that there was favouritism towards Miss Texas and we have the receipts to prove it,” Miss Montana, Heather Lee O'Keefe, told Marca.

There have also been reports that Gabriel was featured in an advertisement for NIZUC spas, who would provide the winner with a treatment day at one of their venues. This advert ran less than 24 hours after Miss USA was announced the winner - sparking more calls from other contestants in the competition that Gabriel was handed the crown before the event even took place.

It’s been a wild ride already as Anne JKN looks to put out the few fires that her first Miss Universe pageant has caused - will history be kind to the first female owner of the beauty pageant after years of male-domineering decisions? Or is Miss Universe fundamentally as dysfunctional as the new reports are claiming? Time will no doubt tell on this matter.