Miss Grand USA Mekyla Li stripped of title after alleged hit-and-run, previous marriage revelations

Nypost · Aug 21, 2026 · 549 words · By Adam Silverstein

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What to know about Miss Grand USA Mekyla Li stripped of title after alleged hit-and-run, previous marriage revelations

Miss Grand USA Mekyla Li stripped of title after alleged hit-and-run, previous marriage revelations See more of our coverage in your search results.

Claims checked 11

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center75%

Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Miss Grand USA Mekyla Li stripped of title after alleged hit-and-run, previous marriage revelations See more of our coverage in your search results.

Why it matters

Add The New York Post on Google Miss Grand USA Mekyla Li was stripped of her title just one week after she was crowned amid revelations of an alleged 2024 hit-and-run and a previous marriage.

Common ground

Li’s short-lived reign was terminated, and she was released from the “Miss Grand USA Title and all associated duties” for violating the pageant’s rules, the organization announced Wednesday “This decision was made in accordance with contractual policies…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Miss Grand USA Mekyla Li stripped of title after alleged hit-and-run, previous marriage revelations?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that She previously held the titles of Miss Grand Massachusetts 2026 and Miss Asia USA 2025?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/08/21/us-news/miss-grand-usa-mekyla-li-stripped-of-title…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 11 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 4

info Single Source 3

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

schedule Pending 1

info

Claim 1: “She previously held the titles of Miss Grand Massachusetts 2026 and Miss Asia USA 2025.”

SINGLE SOURCE

Yahoo News Canada reports that her LinkedIn lists her as Miss Grand Massachusetts 2026 and Miss Asia USA 2025. No other independent source corroborates these specific titles.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Archive of freely downloadable fonts. Browse by alphabetical listing, by style, by author or by popularity.
https://www.dafont.com/themes.php

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web search NEUTRAL — All the new fonts The font used for the dafont.com logo is Elliot Swonger by Jason Ramirez The fonts presented on this website are their authors' property, and are either freeware, shareware, demo ver…
https://www.dafont.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — Todas as novas fontes A fonte usada no logotipo do dafont.com é Elliot Swonger por Jason Ramirez As fontes apresentadas neste site são propriedades de seus autores, e são tanto freeware, shareware, ve…
https://www.dafont.com/pt/

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Claim 2: “Li was married to Danny Ray Bedwell from Aug. 9, 2018 to Dec. 31, 2019”

CORROBORATED

Two independent sources confirm the marriage to Danny Ray Bedwell from August 2018 to December 2019, with one specifically citing divorce records obtained by People.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Li was married to Danny Ray Bedwell from Aug. 9, 2018 to Dec.Mekyla Li, Miss Grand USA winner, posing on a red carpet. 4. Li was also married from August 2018 to December 2019 in another violation of …
https://nypost.com/2026/08/21/us-news/miss-grand-usa-mekyla-…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Mekyla Li held the Miss Grand USA crown for about a week before the organization took it back.Divorce records obtained by People show Li was married from August 2018 to December 2019.
https://www.pulsenewspaper.com/articles/miss-grand-usa-strip…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Mekyla Li has been stripped of her Miss Grand USA 2026 crown just one week after winning the title. The pageant organization announced her removal amid reports surrounding an ongoing felony hit-and-ru…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MEMzAsL7_M

help

Claim 3: “Li won Miss Grand USA on Aug. 10”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided regarding the specific date she won the title (August 10).

verified

Claim 4: “Li was arrested on Nov. 24, 2024, and pleaded not guilty to charges alleging she caused a non-serious injury and a permanent serious injury.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

While other claims confirm the hit-and-run and felony charges, the specific arrest date of Nov 24, 2024, and the specific plea regarding 'non-serious' and 'permanent serious' injuries are not present in the provided evidence.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), or the Big Beautiful Bill (P.L. 119-21), is a U.S. federal statute passed by the 119th United States Congress containing tax and spending policies that form the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Big_Beautiful_Bill_Act

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Miss Grand International 2026 will be the 14th Miss Grand International pageant, scheduled to be held at the MGI Hall in Bangkok, Thailand on 10 October 2026. Emma Tiglao of the Philippines will crown…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Grand_International_2026

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Miss Grand USA, also referred to as Miss Grand United States of America, is an annual female beauty pageant in the United States, founded in 2016 by a Dominican-American businessperson, Chantel Martín…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Grand_USA

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 5: “Li and a man named Michael Scobey allegedly swerved into oncoming traffic on Sunset Boulevard and collided with a vehicle driven by Anna Mercedes Aoun”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided evidence mentions a hit-and-run, but does not mention Michael Scobey, Sunset Boulevard, or Anna Mercedes Aoun.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — My guess is if you have Profiile views ON and the other person also has theirs ON, and you vist their TikTok Profile, then it will show that you viewed their TikTok Profile. You have to switch your Pr…
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tiktokhelp/comments/ue4rb5/can_some…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — To those who are curious about the franchise, welcome to r/KingdomHearts! Don't know where to start? Check out our guide here in order to get started and how to play through the series! Have a questio…
https://www.reddit.com/r/KingdomHearts/

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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 22, 2021 · 99K votes, 1.6K comments. 2.6M subscribers in the shitposting community. Kevin saw the API changes, felt overwhelming disappointment, and decided to…
https://www.reddit.com/r/shitposting/comments/mw2jeg/_/

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Claim 6: “Li, 27, is facing two felony charges stemming from an alleged hit-and-run in Los Angeles in November 2024”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm she is facing felony charges related to an alleged hit-and-run in November 2024.

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web search NEUTRAL — Review, Testing, and Disassembly. Nikolay G 131,123 views 3 years ago.In this video, we'll look at a smart charger for different types of batteries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij8eQfTZZPg

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web search NEUTRAL — Mekyla Li is facing felony charges and a civil lawsuit related to an alleged hit-and-run in November 2024. Li’s past marriage appears to violate Miss Grand International’s eligibility rules for contes…
https://people.com/new-miss-grand-usa-crowned-after-previous…

+ 1 more evidence source

schedule

Claim 7: “Oluwakotanmi was named Miss Black San Antonio in March 2020 and competed in the Miss Texas USA pageant in 2023.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 8: “Miss Grand USA Mekyla Li was stripped of her title just one week after she was crowned”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (YouTube news report and web search results) confirm that Mekyla Li was stripped of her Miss Grand USA 2026 title approximately one week after winning.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Mekyla Li Bedwell is an American-Chinese beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Grand United States 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekyla_Li

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “Pageant rules state contestants “cannot be or have been married or pregnant” and “must have a clean personal record with no criminal history.””

CORROBORATED

The Epoch Times and other reports confirm that eligibility standards for Miss Grand USA/International prohibit previous marriage and require a clean criminal record.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Miss Grand International, also known as Miss Grand, is an international beauty pageant franchise that is based in Thailand. It consists of the annual national pageant Miss Grand Thailand, as well as t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Grand_International

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Miss Grand International 2025 was the 13th edition of the Miss Grand International pageant, held at the MGI Hall in Bangkok, Thailand, on 18 October 2025. CJ Opiaza of the Philippines crowned Emma Tig…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Grand_International_2025

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+ 3 more evidence sources

help

Claim 10: “Miss Grand USA named Miss Grand Indiana Victoria Oluwakotanmi... as Li’s replacement on Thursday.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was provided regarding Victoria Oluwakotanmi being named as the replacement.

info

Claim 11: “Li was born to Chinese and South African parents”

SINGLE SOURCE

Yahoo News Canada reports that according to her website, she was born to Chinese and South African parents. No other independent source corroborates this biographical detail.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Explore Mekyla Li's platform promoting cultural representation, women's empowerment, and global impact through advocacy, mentorship, and media presence.
https://www.mekylali.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — According to her website, Li was born to Chinese and South African parents and raised "across three continents." She was formerly named Miss Grand Massachusetts 2026 and Miss Asia USA 2025, per her Li…
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/miss-grand-usa-winner-title-165209…

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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.