Miss District of Columbia Wins Miss U.S.A.
The newly crowned Miss U.S.A. is a 26-year-old Army officer who gave perhaps the strongest answer of the night.
Finalists Miss District of
Columbia, Deshauna Barber, left, and Miss Hawaii, Chelsea Hardin, wait
for the results during the 2016 Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas, on Sunday
Jason Ogulnik/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP
By SALLY HO, Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The newly crowned Miss USA is a
26-year-old Army officer from the District of Columbia who gave perhaps
the strongest answer of the night when asked about women in combat.
"As a woman in the United States Army, I think ... we are
just as tough as men. As a commander of my unit, I'm powerful, I am
dedicated," Deshauna Barber said. "Gender does not limit us in the
United States."
The winner of Sunday's 2016 Miss USA competition held at
the T-Mobile Arena off the Las Vegas Strip will go on to compete in the
Miss Universe contest.
Barber is the first-ever military member to win Miss USA.
In a press conference following the event, the 26-year-old lieutenant
from Northeast DC said she plans to take a break from the Army Reserves
and had already discussed with superiors the possibility of going
inactive for a couple of years should she win the title. She said she
currently serves two days per month.
"My commander should be watching right now," Barber said.
"Two days a month is definitely not active duty. It is an obligation
that I signed up for but they are very flexible in the United States
Army Reserves."
Barber said she plans to use the pageant's spotlight and
her title to support veteran's causes and tackle the issue of suicide
and post-traumatic stress disorder among military members. When asked
what message she had for the presidential candidates — including former
pageant owner and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump — Barber
said they should focus more on veteran's issues, including the backlog
at veterans hospitals.
"I think that a lot of the topics that they discuss isn't as important," she said in a glittering gold gown.
Barber's not the only contestant who had to address the
election and the Republican candidate, who had a public break-up with
the beauty pageant organization last year.
Trump offended Hispanics when he made anti-immigrant
remarks in announcing his bid for the White House last June. He at the
time co-owned The Miss Universe Organization with NBCUniversal, but the
network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision quickly cut ties
with him, refusing to air the show. Trump sued both networks, eventually
settling and selling off the entire pageant to talent management
company WME/IMG.
Miss Hawaii, who came in second Sunday night, punted
during the question-and-answer segment when asked who she would vote for
among the likely presidential candidates, Trump or Democrat Hillary
Clinton.
Chelsea Hardin acknowledged that there was no way to
correctly answer the question during the beauty pageant. The question
was framed with Clinton's likely status of being the first woman
nominated by a major political party in the race for the White House.
The 24-year-old college student from Honolulu responded that gender
doesn't matter when deciding the next commander in chief.
The other women in the top five were asked about voting
rights, income inequality and the recent death of sports icon Muhammad
Ali.
Fan favorite Miss California, Nadia Grace Mejia, had
stumbled and paused when answering a question about social and economic
inequality. The 20-year-old model, who is the daughter of the 1990s
one-hit-wonder singer Gerardo, known for "Rico Suave," had also talked
about suffering from anorexia and wanting to promote body confidence
earlier in the show.
The beauty pageant organization also didn't shy away from addressing another controversy from last year — Miss Universe.
Steve Harvey made a cameo in a video at the start of the
Miss USA show to poke fun of the Miss Universe crowning that he botched
in December.
Harvey was hosting Miss Universe last year when he
mistakenly named Colombia's Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo the winner before
correcting himself on the stage. Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach of the Philippines
was then given the crown. Officials later said it was due to human
error. The talk show host said he had re-read the card and noticed it
said "first runner-up" next to the Colombia contestant's name before
clarifying with producers his mistake.
He took to Twitter after Miss USA Sunday night to mock
himself again by highlighting the similarity of the two locations, the
District of Columbia and the country of Colombia.
___
Follow Sally Ho at twitter.com/_sallyho. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/sally-ho
Copyright 2016 The Associated Presshttp://www.usnews.com/news/entertainment/articles/2016-06-05/miss-usa-back-on-stage-after-turbulent-year-donald-trump
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