New York brawl brings shame to Sri Lankans

• Lankans involved in brawl at beauty pageant after-party
• Chandimal rubbishes attempts to tarnish his name
• Several people, including a number of influential individuals, took to social media and expressed outrage at the behaviour of those involved in the brawl

By Easwaran Rutnam

A brawl which broke out during an after-party in New York following the first-ever Miss Sri Lanka New York pageant has tarnished the image of the Sri Lankan community in the US. 

Angelia Gunasekara was crowned the first-ever Miss Sri Lanka New York at the pageant held at The Vanderbilt in South Beach last week.

Following the event, an after-party was held for which tickets had been sold to the public.

A brawl had taken place during the after-party involving a few US-based Sri Lankans and Americans.

Video footage of the brawl went viral on social media and drew strong reactions from the public both in Sri Lanka and in New York.

Several people, including a number of influential individuals, took to social media and expressed outrage at the behaviour of those involved in the brawl.

The public said that the incident had tarnished the image of the Sri Lankan community in the US.

Some also attacked Chandimal Jayasinghe, the National Director of Mrs. Sri Lanka for Mrs. World, who was to be a guest at the event, by linking him to the brawl.

However,  Jayasinghe told Daily Mirror that he did not attend the event as his visa was delayed.

He said that he extended support for the show via Zoom, but was not physically present.

Jayasinghe also said that the brawl had nothing to do with the show and that it was at the after-party.