A 25-year-old woman named Lucy Maino grabbed the headlines recently after she was stripped off the Miss Papua New Guinea crown. The reason behind it was a video of her twerking that she shared on TikTok and went viral. 

Former co-captain of the island`s women football team, her twerking video garnered a lot of criticism. Despite being posted on her private TikTok account, it was downloaded and shared on various social media platforms. From there, it went viral but got a lot of negative attention. 

Lucy Maino was crowned Miss Papua New Guinea in 2019. Due to COVID-19, she took on the role for another year. 

Watch the video here:

As soon as the video caught the internet`s attention, several took to various platforms to criticize her for the inappropriate dance moves. Some of them felt that a `role model` should not indulge in such activities. According to The Guardian, the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant committee `released` her from her duties.

"Our core purpose is the empowerment of women. We are a unique pageant-style platform that promotes cultural heritage, traditional values, and sharing through tourism about our country and people,” their statement said, further emphasizing the promotion of virtues such as education, integrity, and community service. 

The committee`s stance in this situation received a tremendous amount of backlash. Many were enraged by the blatant misogyny that was evident in this act. Twerking is extremely popular among people today. At the end of the day, Lucy Maino is a woman who is just dancing and having fun. 

Former Miss PNG, who was not named, told the news organization, "I am sure if a male figure did a TikTok video, we would all be laughing and praising him." Many also criticized the committee for not highlighting any such rules before and `throwing her under the bus. 

The United Nations on the island took to their Facebook page in support of Maino. "While constructive criticism and dissenting views are legitimate, bullying is NEVER acceptable in any form: neither digital nor in person," their statement said. 

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