Miss Universe Controversy Drags On; Is Leila Lopes Not Really African but Cuban? [PHOTOS]

Critics of the new Miss Universe, Leila Lopes of Angola, are charging that she is not really African, but of Cuban descent.

After a bitter complaint from Miss France that Lopes was undeserving of the crown, another wave of rumors have sparked and wouldn't die down. According to a report by Information Nigeria, a man named Charles Mukano forged documents claiming that Lopes is a business administration student in Britain.

This alleged falsification allowed her to join the Miss Angola UK contest; a title she won that moved her forward to the Miss Universe pageant, which she also eventually won. The rules of Miss Angola UK state that only Angolan-born citizens who live in Great Britain are eligible to compete, and if Lopes is not genuinely from the African country, problems might surface from here on.

Aside from this unverified claim, the most divisive of all rumors is the one claiming that Lopes is not from Angola, but from Cuba because of her fluency in the Spanish language, reports claimed. Although this rumor is not yet verified, it threatens to tarnish Lopes's reputation.

Before those allegations, a debunked statement from Oprah Winfrey spread like wildfire. She supposedly said that Miss Philippines should have won based on the question-and-answer portion alone. Winfrey's Web site chief denied that the queen of talk made any statements about the Miss Universe pageant.