Miss USA

12:25 PM PT -- A spokesperson for Lu's station, KTLA, tells us the arrest is a misunderstanding -- she noticed the earbuds were left behind, and picked them up, "intending to return them to the owner whom she had been speaking with while in line to clear TSA."

The spokesperson says when Lu was unable to locate the owner, she boarded her flight -- but she is fully cooperating with authorities.

Former Miss USA Lu Parker is under arrest for pilfering a pair of high-end headphones at LAX ... TMZ has learned.

The 1994 pageant winner, and current news anchor in L.A., allegedly lifted the headphones Wednesday morning at the TSA screening area in Terminal 6. Law enforcement sources tell us she walked to her gate and boarded her flight.

We're told cops saw Lu take the audio gear on CCTV cams, and tracked her down on the plane before it left. Officers hauled her off the jet and took her into custody. The headphones are worth $200, so she's looking at a misdemeanor theft.

Really bad luck for Parker -- we're told the owner of the headphones is an LAPD Robbery Homicide detective.

Parker famously dated former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa several years ago, but they've broken up.

Former Miss Teen USA Katie Blair says Donald Trump is far from the sleazy guy he's being made out to be ... based on her experiences with him on TV shows and pageants.

Katie was Miss Teen USA '06 and Miss CA USA '11 ... and Trump owned both pageants at the time. We talked to her about her interactions with the boss, and while she admits there were plenty of situations for him to leer ... she insists it NEVER happened.

Katie says anyone who's had any experience with live TV would know there's an obvious reason why Trump couldn't have done many of the things some other pageant contestants have accused him of doing.

Check out her take on Trump -- who stood by her during her scandal with former Miss USA Tara Conner. Katie's clearly got his back when it comes to his ethics.

As for whether he's got her vote? Katie's made her decision, though it's hardly a ringing endorsement.

The Miss Teen USA needs to reassemble all the contestants and redo this year's entire pageant -- but this time with more women of color onstage and at the judges' table ... according to Miss Alaska's mom.

Ifeoma Isolokwu's daughter, Nneamaka, was one of very few African-American contestants, and Mom's not just upset Nneamaka didn't win -- she thinks it's a disgrace there was only one minority in the top 15, period. Not to mention the now infamous blonde brigade in the top 5.

Ifeoma says the only fair thing would be to hold the competition again with a more diverse judging panel. On Saturday night, 4 were white and one was Latina.

However, Sheila Wakeman -- mom to Miss North Carolina Emily Wakeman -- thinks the lack of diversity claims don't hold up. She believes the top 5 all made it on merit. Keep in mind, her daughter was 1st runner-up.

Miss Teen USA has already said it stands by Saturday's results, and Karlie Hay will remain queen.

Genesis Davila -- the former Miss Florida 2017 -- says a pageant organizer royally screwed her out of her crown cause of his disdain for Puerto Ricans and to direct the new winner to one of his business clients ... so she says in a new lawsuit.

According to legal docs obtained by TMZ ... Davila accuses pageant boss Grant Gravitt of overt prejudice against Puerto Ricans and spreading lies to dethrone her -- saying she wasn't born in the U.S. and cheated at the competition by bringing in her own hair and makeup team.

Davila says she enjoyed the title for all of 6 days before a meeting with pageant officials. She says that meeting was supposed to be about proving her citizenship.

Instead ... Davila says it turned into a press conference, where she was told to resign and lie that it was "because her mother was sick in a hospital." The pageant later announced she was stripped of her title and crown.

Davila says Gravitt came up with all kinds of excuses to dethrone her ... just to steer the new winner to one of his clients and major financial sponsors, Pageant Ready.

As for a photo that surfaced showing her getting makeup help ... she says that photo was snapped a week before the pageant and Gravitt purposefully cropped out the time stamp to support his false claim.

Davila is suing for damages in excess of $15 million.

The Miss Teen USA pageant looked like a snowstorm in Las Vegas -- that's how a lot of people saw it due to a severe lack of diversity when Miss Texas Karlie Hay was crowned.

Hay was crowned Saturday night ... and viewers couldn't help but notice the top 5 were ALL blonde haired, blue eyed chicks. To be fair, it wasn't only the top 5 who looked like that.

As Chrissy Teigen put it ... "Wow how can we choose from such a diverse bunch."

To make matters worse -- almost immediately after 18-year-old Hay grabbed her tiara and bouquet, a bunch of tweets from 2013 bit her in the ass. Turns out she liked to use the n-word when referring to her friends.

The racial insensitivity had many people on social media calling for Miss Teen USA to dethrone Hay, but the pageant says it's sticking with her -- and she's sort of apologized, saying she's not proud of the language she used in the past, but says she's a "better person today."

Miss California's famous father -- singer-turned-pageant-dad Gerardo Mejia -- thinks the Miss USA judges gave his little girl the short end of the stick with the hardest question of the night.

Yeah, Gerardo, who you definitely know from the '90s hit "Rico Suave" -- is now the personal valet for his daughter, Nadia ... carrying her luggage, getting her coffee and prepping her for competitions. He tells us he helped her brush up for Sunday's Q&A by covering topics like immigration and Nadia's Latina heritage.

But he thinks the judges unfairly tossed her a major curveball about economic inequality -- and her stumbling response has gone viral. He notes they asked the military woman a military question, and another contestant about who had her vote.

Nadia shook it off and still finished in the top 5 ... so, Gerardo's more proud than pissed. He says she plans to milk her moment for all it's worth. It's worked for others.

And now, because we know you've been humming it in your head ...

Donald Trump has settled his legal disputes with NBCUniversal and Univision by using his best resource ... money, money, money.

The Donald just announced he bought out NBC's half share of the Miss Universe Organization ... making him 100% owner.

Trump threatened NBC with a lawsuit after they yanked the Miss USA pageant off the air, following his remarks about Mexicans. Miss USA is a part of the Miss Universe Org. He sued Univision for $500 million, which also pulled the plug on the pageant.

The newly crowned Miss USA, Olivia Jordan, is hot as hell … a not-so-well-hidden secret Vegas discovered when she stripped down to a bikini to win a different title.

Olivia won the Luli Fama Swimwear Model Search at Wynn's Encore Beach Club back in 2014 -- and took home a giant $25k check, and a modeling deal.

Previous winner Nina Agdal was also there ... and posed with Olivia and the runners-up for a smoking hot winners circle shot.

We're guessing they skipped the interview round for the Vegas competition. Hint, hint ... organizers of Miss USA and every other stupid beauty pageant.

The new Miss USA, and one of the runners-up, sucked up to Oprah Winfrey ... BIG TIME -- demanding her face be slapped on the new $10 bill, even though she's lacking a major requirement ... DEATH.

The 5 finalists were all asked the same question -- who should grace the ten dollar when it's unveiled in 2020? Simple, right? Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt ... maybe a Betsy Ross?

Nope. Miss Oklahoma said she wishes it could be the big O, but Miss Maryland went all in! You've gotta see her ramble about Oprah and inspiration and ... stuff. Classic.

FYI, the Treasury says all candidates must be dead and represent democracy.

The only thing more entertaining all night was Miss Rhode Island talking political correctness. As an old southern woman would say, "Bless her heart."

Miss USA pageant broadcasters made an offer they thought Hispanic groups couldn't refuse -- but that's exactly what they did ... out of fear of associating with Donald Trump.

Reelz, which bought rights to air the pageant just 9 days ago ... had offered Hispanic groups national airtime during the broadcast to promote their causes in public service announcements.

But the cable network's CEO Stan Hubbard tells TMZ ... no one's snapped up the opportunity. He says Reelz reached out to several groups, but they all rejected the offer. Hubbard added, "I understand that people were offended, but we weren't in alignment with the things Donald Trump said."

As TMZ first reported ... Reelz swooped in because Hubbard felt the contestants shouldn't be punished for Trump's political statements. It's a pageant, after all ... not a debate.

Thing is ... many of the Miss USA contestants are of Hispanic descent ... making the pageant a perfect place to promote causes in the community. So, missing out on that seems like a classic case of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Especially since, Trump's making zilch off this deal.

Miss USA scored 3 new hosts, and 2 of them come with beauty pageant experience ... TMZ has learned.

Reelz -- which picked up the pageant after NBC dropped it -- landed Todd Newton and Alex Wehrley to host. Alex was Miss USA Wisconsin in 2009, and Todd -- a Daytime Emmy winning TV presenter -- hosted Miss Universe in 2001.

We're also told Julie Alexandria -- an "OK! TV" host -- will be working the mic backstage for Sunday night's competition.

The CEO of Reelz, which has agreed to run the Miss USA pageant, tells TMZ, Donald Trump will lose money because the fee the network is paying is way less than the cost of production.

Stan Hubbard tells us, he made the decision to air the pageant because it's a TV show, not a political event, and the women participating should not be punished for Trump's remarks.

Hubbard thinks it's hypocritical for people to demand a boycott, because it's no different from buying music or watching TV shows and movies featuring entertainers who have wacky views.

The CEO says he personally disagrees strongly with Trump's remarks about Mexicans, but he feels strongly the pageant should not be the ultimate victim.

As for money, Hubbard says "Trump is not going to profit from what we're paying. What we've agreed to pay doesn't even dent the cost of production."

Hubbard says right now there are no advertisers and it will be a challenge given the political climate and the July 4th weekend, where everyone's gone. But he says Trump won't see a penny of ad revenue.

Hubbard also says pageant organizers are trying to find a Hispanic host. He also says a series of PSAs promoting "Hispanic non-political causes" will air during the show.

Donald Trump has found someone who likes him ... Reelz will air the Miss USA Pageant.

After being dumped by Univision and NBC, Reelz swooped in and will broadcast the pageant on July 12.

In announcing the move -- which made no mention of The Donald or the controversy surrounding him -- CEO Stan E. Hubbard said, "As one of only a few independent networks, we decided to exercise our own voice and committed ourselves to bringing this pageant to American viewers everywhere."

In addition to losing its network, the pageant has seen its host, judges and musical guest bow out.

Flo Rida has joined the Miss USA exodus, telling TMZ he won't be performing at the upcoming pageant.

The rapper wouldn't be specific as to why he won't perform ... he made no mention of Trump or the controversy over the Prez candidate's statement about Mexicans.

There's also this reality ... since NBC has dropped the pageant, the appearance money could be different. But Flo Rida is mum about the reason behind his decision.

He was supposed to perform during the evening gown competition.

Miss USA organizers are trying to entice NBC to reverse their decision to ax the pageant, with the help of 51 beautiful women.

Sources who run the pageant tell us, they're now scrambling to find a TV home just 2 weeks before the contest. They feel they shouldn't be painted with the same brush as Donald Trump, even though he has a majority stake in the pageant.

So executives who run Miss USA day-to-day are starting a petition, asking everyone associated with the pageant and others to send emails to NBC CEO Steve Burke.

The execs say they're between a rock and a hard place, because only Trump can try to cut a deal with another network, and he's made no such move. But the network has now orphaned the pageant so the only realistic option is for NBC to show mercy on the women who have no dog in Trump's fight.

The pageant people say they were blindsided by NBC's decision ... rehearsals are already underway and the girls are being fitted.

Donald Trump says NBC is "weak" for firing him, and he's threatening them in court.

Trump says NBC is a prime example of why our country is in serious trouble ... because it's so worried about offending, it is blinding itself to the immigration problem.

Trump says, "If NBC is so weak and so foolish to not understand the serious illegal immigration problem in the United States, coupled with the horrendous and unfair trade deals we are making with Mexico, then their contract violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court."

Short story -- The Donald is threatening NBC the way he's threatened Univision, for allegedly breaching an iron-clad contract by pulling the plug on him.