Miss Grand USA strips Mekyla Li of title a week after crowning her

Miss Grand USA stripped Mekyla Li of her national title on Aug. 19, a week after crowning her, as she faces two felony hit-and-run charges and a civil suit over a 2024 crash in Los Angeles in which another motorist says she was seriously injured. The organization did not say what prompted the decision, citing only its contractual policies. Li has not been convicted of anything and has pleaded not guilty.

The organization announced the removal in an Instagram post, saying it had terminated Li's reign and released her from the title and all associated duties under its contractual policies. It did not identify which policy she had breached, and it gave no reason for the decision. The announcement came seven days after Li was crowned, an unusually short reign for a national titleholder.

Court records reviewed by People show Li faces two felony counts tied to the crash, one for causing non-serious injury and one for causing permanent serious injury. She was arrested on Nov. 24, 2024, and pleaded not guilty to both counts at an arraignment on March 19, 2025. The criminal case has not gone to trial.

The Los Angeles crash

The civil complaint obtained by People says the vehicle Li was in swerved into oncoming traffic on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and struck a car carrying Anna Mercedes Aoun. Aoun says she suffered 'catastrophic injuries,' including some permanent disability, in the collision, which the complaint dates to November 2024. The complaint sets out her allegations, which have not been tested in court.

The suit alleges that neither Li nor a co-defendant, Michael Scobey, called for emergency services, and that the two left the scene in a rideshare vehicle. No court filing or published account identifies which of them was driving.

Scobey is named alongside Li in the civil complaint, which seeks damages for negligence, a hit-and-run, intoxicated driving and reckless driving. The civil complaint alleges intoxicated driving; the two criminal counts against Li do not include a driving-under-the-influence charge. The prosecution and the lawsuit stem from the same collision but are proceeding on separate tracks.

A marriage on the record

Divorce records obtained by People show Li was married from Aug. 9, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2019. Eligibility criteria published on Miss Grand USA's website, under the heading 'MGI Eligibility Criteria,' state that contestants cannot be or have been married or pregnant, a standard the earlier marriage appears to conflict with regardless of when it took place.

The same criteria bar anyone with a criminal history, which the pending felony charges also appear to run against. The organization has not said whether the charges, the marriage, or both prompted the removal, pointing only to its contractual policies.

Beyond marital status and a clean record, the published criteria require contestants to be 21 to 35 by the date of the Miss Grand International final, to be born female, and to be a legal resident of the country represented. The rules add that gender reassignment is not accepted and that contestants must be in excellent physical and mental health. Miss Grand International's own site states a different age range, 17 to 30.

How the organization learned of Li's legal history is not clear from its statements.

A statement without a reason

Miss Grand USA posted its announcement on Instagram on Aug. 19, opening with the termination of Li's reign and closing with a request that discussion of the change stay respectful. The post did not specify which contractual policy had been violated, and it did not mention the felony charges or the earlier marriage. It was the only public notice the organization gave.

The statement misspelled Li's first name as Mekayla.

Miss Grand USA announces the termination of Mekayla Li's reign and her release from the Miss Grand USA Title and all associated duties. This decision was made in accordance with contractual policies outlined by the Miss Grand USA organization. We ask that all dialogue surrounding this transition remain respectful.

The post added that the organization stands against bullying, harassment, defamation, degrading remarks and personal attacks of any kind. It gave no detail on how the decision was reached, when Li learned of it, or whether she was given a chance to respond.

The organization did not hold a press conference or explain which of its standards Li had failed to meet. Its public account of the removal is limited to the single Instagram statement and its reference to contractual policies.

Li, her attorney and Miss Grand USA did not return People's requests for comment and have not publicly said why she was stripped of her title. Her attorney has not been named in any public account.

Who Mekyla Li is

Li was born to Chinese and South African parents and raised, by her own account, across three continents. Her website describes her as a psychology scholar whose work centers on global identity and representation.

Before winning the national crown, she held the titles of Miss Grand Massachusetts 2026, according to her LinkedIn profile, and Miss Asia USA 2025, which her website confirms. She had been set to represent the United States at the Miss Grand International final, scheduled for October in India. Miss Grand International has not published a competition calendar for the 2026 edition.

A win celebrated online

Li was crowned Miss Grand USA in Las Vegas on Aug. 12, according to People and TMZ; The Daily Beast and a ticketing listing for the finals at the Rio put the event on Aug. 10. In an interview with Edgar Entertainment after the win, she said she felt 'so excited but I'm also already thinking about the journey ahead,' and planned to take the Miss Grand International stage in India in 'full force' later in the year.

A week into this reign, and I'm still taking it all in.

That post went up on Aug. 18, one day before the organization revoked the title. Li had described the win as "surreal" and the ceremony as an "unforgettable night," and she was posting about her reign as the announcement approached. She has not commented publicly since the title was pulled.

The standards for the crown

Miss Grand USA publishes a set of eligibility criteria on its website. The organization has not said whether those criteria are the 'contractual policies' its statement invoked. Of the published criteria, the moral-integrity clause is the one that most closely tracks the charges: it requires a clean personal record and bars anyone with a criminal history. Li has not been convicted, and the charges against her remain unresolved.

The rule bars a criminal history rather than pending charges, a distinction the organization has not addressed. It has not connected the charges, the marriage or anything else to the removal in any public statement.

Must have a clean personal record with no criminal history, scandalous background, or participation in adult content or activities deemed inappropriate by MGI

The marital rule is stated separately. Contestants must be single and, in the pageant's phrasing, cannot be or have been married or pregnant, and must not have children or legal guardianship responsibilities. Neither that rule nor the moral-integrity clause was named in the organization's announcement.

What happens to the title

The organization has not named a replacement titleholder. The Daily Beast reported that the national competition's first runner-up is Miss Grand Indiana, Victoria Oluwakotanmi. With the Miss Grand International final set for October in India, the criminal prosecution and the civil suit against Li both remain open, and she has pleaded not guilty to the two felony counts.