Miss Teen USA had been enjoying a healthy amount of good press after announcing they would discontinue the swimsuit segment of the competition. This year, contestants wore colorful athletic gear instead.
But Saturday night when the top five finalists were introduced at the Venetian in Las Vegas, it was hard to ignore what they had in common.
As Chrissy Teigen's tweet succinctly pointed out, a picture of the five blue-eyed blondes was worth a thousand words.
The top five Miss Teen USA finalists were Miss Texas Karlie Hay (who won the competition), second runner-up Miss South Carolina Marley Stokes, Miss North Carolina Emily Wakeman, Miss Alabama Erin Snow and Miss Nevada Carissa Morrow. Contestants competed in three categories: active wear, evening gown and interview.
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Before the outrage-ometer could get too high, at least from the social media-friendly model, Teigen tempered her tweet.
Sister competition Miss USA was far more diverse in 2016. This year, four of the five finalists — Miss Georgia, Miss Hawaii, Miss California and Deshauna Barber of Miss District of Columbia — were women of color.
Barber (pictured above, left with Hay), who won the Miss USA title in June, recently discussed how she handles discrimination with USA TODAY.
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Miss USA talks diversity, pageants: 'I’ve faced discrimination in the past'
"Pageants are nerve-wracking in general. As African-American women, we do face discrimination at times, and it’s a natural fear I feel in every single field, whether it’s in theDepartment of Commerce when I was working there, or the military, or pageants, or even walking into a store," she said.
Barber added: "I’m not the first African-American woman to win the competition, and I think it goes to show not only as a woman of color but as a soldier, an IT analyst, a woman with her masters degree, that the Miss Universe organization is looking for diversity."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/07/31/miss-teen-usa-pageant-stumbles-over-diversity/87886728/