The Maine Lobster Festival’s annual “Sea Goddess” has been dethroned after someone anonymously emailed secret photos of the 18-year-old smoking pot.
Every year, the Maine Lobster Festival honors a Sea Goddess, Crown Princess, and members of King Neptune’s Court. At this year’s lobster festival, 18-year-old Taylor Hamlin took top honors. However, less than 24 hours later, festival organizers told her she had to resign.
That’s right, two photos from social media – one of her holding a joint, the other a JUUL e-cigarette – got her crown taken away. Hamlin told Buzzfeed that those photos were over a year old and from her Finsta account.
If you don’t know, that stands for a Fake Instagram account – one only certain friends get access to with different content than your “official” Instagram… and that means that someone who knows her sent those photos to the Lobster Festival.
She was told she had no choice but to resign, though she’d get to keep a $2,000 scholarship given to the pageant winner. : Taylor accepted the decision, though she then spoke out on Facebook, writing: “Everybody is a teen once in awhile. I’m sorry to whoever didn’t receive the goddess they wanted and felt the need to sabotage this amazing thing that has happened to me. You clearly don’t know me well enough or know the real Taylor Hamlin.”
Taylor’s mother Cindi is standing by her daughter, and believes the Lobster Festival is upset that their decision has become a big story. Taylor’s Facebook post has gone viral and people from around the world who’ve never even heard of the Maine Lobster Festival are coming out to support her.
Another thing Taylor points out is that that things she was doing weren’t even that bad.
ADVERTISEMENT
Yeah, she can legally vape, and recreational marijuana is legal in Maine. So, really, the only issue is that she’s under 21. But you’ve got to wonder if she would have still been stripped of her title if it was a photo of her drinking at a party. Festival organizers say they wish Hamlin all the best, but stand by their decision.
That means, for all official duties, Erin Dugan is now the Sea Goddess of the Maine Lobster Festival, and Taylor says she’s learned a valuable lesson about what not to post on social media.
She also, in a follow-up Facebook post, encouraged people not to take their anger out on the festival. She wrote: “I have grown up involved with the festival for as long as I can remember. I feel as if people are losing sight of my purpose. Which was to tell everybody the truth, risking my reputation. I truly want to extend my apologies to everyone who loves the festival and puts extreme amounts of work into it. I absolutely love the festival and would love to continue to volunteer for them.”
What do you guys think? Did the Lobster Festival make a big deal over nothing? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending
