This year’s Miss Teen USA will keep her crown after coming under fire for using the N-word in a series of tweets that the 18-year-old posted to her social media account several years ago, People is reporting.
The decision on Karlie Hay’s crown came Sunday from the Miss Universe Organization, which owns the teen pageant. The Texas teen had also apologized on her Instragram account for using “language publicly in the past that I’m not proud and that there is no excuse for.”
Hay attributed her use of such language to “personal struggles” that took her to “a place that is not representative of who I am as a person.”
While saying in a statement that the language Hay used is “unacceptable at any age,” the Miss Universe Organization seemed to concur that Hay regretted her choices and said it would let her keep the crown to support her “continued growth.”
The controversy over Hay’s tweets hit the pageant almost immediately after she was crowned Miss Teen USA in Las Vegas Saturday night. Twitter users screenshotted tweets from what was apparently Hay’s old account that she has since made private. In the tweets from 2013, Hay bandied about the N-word in a number of tweets to and about friends, New York magazine said.
The screenshot of the tweets made its way around the internet, where many social media users called for Hay to lose her crown.
Pageant officials said the language Hay used “in no way reflects the values of the Miss Universe Organization.”
This wasn’t the only controversy over race and diversity to hit the pageant this year. Social media users, including model Chrissy Teigen, criticized the pageant after five blond white women were named the top five finalists.
“Wow how can we choose from such a diverse bunch,” Chrissy Teigen wrote of the finalists in a tweet.
In a follow-up tweet, the model wrote: “It’s fiiiiiine. Not their fault. I’m sure they are delightful women. Just funny. I’m not gonna write a think-piece on a damn pageant.”
Both controversies came after the pageant seemed to be making an effort to show how progressive it had become by discontinuing its swimwear segment for this year’s contest.
Martha Ross provides celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Follow her at twitter.com/marthajross.
