Miss Michigan 2019 Kathy Zhu has had her crown taken away thanks to tweets pageant officials deem “offensive.”
Two tweets in question are from 2018 and 2017. In October 2017, the 20-year-old conservative political commentator said, “Did you know the majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks? Fix problems within your own community before blaming others.”
More recently in February 2018, the University of Michigan student said, “There is a ‘try a hijab on’ booth at my college campus. So you’re telling me that it’s now just a fashion accessory and not a religious thing? Or are you just trying to get women used to being oppressed under Islam?”
Both tweets have since been deleted, but they still managed to catch the attention of Miss World America officials who emailed Zhu a statement that she posted screenshots of online.
Zhu claimed the organization removed the title “due to my refusal to try on a hijab in 2018, my tweet about black on black gun violence, and ‘insensitive’ statistical tweets.”
“You shouldn’t just take tweets out of context,” she said to CNN’s “New Day” on Monday, July 22. “Everything I posted was my statistics and opinions and I think that we should be empowering women’s voices and not just stripping them of their titles only because of their opinions.”
She also noted her tweet about black-on-black crime was in response to someone who said, “all cops are bad people, that they kill innocent black people.”
“I think that you shouldn’t just put a blanket statement over all cops,” she says before emphasizing the need for context.
“This is all backed up statistics and facts. I think it’s really, really awful how the left thinks that statistics and facts are racist, so I don’t think anything I said was remotely wrong. I stand by every tweet that I post,” Zhu added when asked about what she meant by the tweet.
The one-time beauty queen also defended her tackling the black community, maintaining that “of course everyone has problems in their own communities” and blasted the notion that “statistics and facts are racist.”
Ahead of her CNN appearance, Zhu tweeted emails and text exchanges with Miss World America Michigan state director Laurie DeJack.
In what appears to be her initial email exchange with the contestant, DeJack said it was brought to her attention that her social media accounts “contain offensive, insensitive and inappropriate content, and in violation of MWA’s Rules and Conditions, specifically the contestant requirement of ‘being of good character and whose background is not likely to bring into disrepute Miss World America or any person associated with the organization.'”
Zhu responded by questioning DeJack’s definition of “insensitive” and said, “a [M]uslim woman FORCIBLY put a hijab on my head” at a booth for the Muslim Student Association on campus. Zhu’s explanation on “New Day” was the same, but calmer; she said she told the person “no,” having already been late to class.
The student, who openly supports President Donald Trump, later took to Twitter to comment on how “New Day” host Alisyn Camerota pressed her about why she did not mention white-on-white crime in her tweet but brought up the issue of black-on-black crime.
Meanwhile, MWA officials have yet to issue a response to Zhu’s defense of her tweets.
However, folks online have not held back.
“🤮she supports #trump so she deserves to have her title stripped ✌🏾”
“She clarified nothing. She simply doubled-down on her racist stance. Serves her right to have her title stripped away.”
“Wherever she went to college, they should demand her diploma back & give her a refund. She’s brain dead. Stats & statistics don’t mean schit especially when defending cops as not being the cause of blacks deaths outside of Blacks. And that’s the point of Black Lives Matters!!!”
