Brent Musburger
(
)
America’s new “tweetheart” yesterday defended Brent Musburger as a victim of unnecessary roughness.
Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron’s girlfriend, Katherine Webb, 23, became a sudden sensation on Twitter after the ESPN announcer’s remarks about her beauty propelled her into stardom as she sat in the stands during Monday’s championship game against Notre Dame.
Yesterday, the model’s Twitter followers zoomed to over 200,000.
“Wow, I’m telling you, quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman. Wow!’’ Musburger gushed at one point as she was captured rooting in the stands by ESPN cameras.
On the “Today’’ show yesterday, Matt Lauer asked Webb how she felt about the comments. “I think the media has been really unfair to him,’’ she replied. “If he would have said something along the lines that we were hot or sexy or made any derogatory statements like that, that would have been a little bit different,’’ she said.
“The fact he said we were beautiful and gorgeous, I don’t see why any woman wouldn’t be flattered by that.’’
Her remarks came a day after ESPN issued an apology, saying that “the commentary in this instance went too far, and Brent understands that.’’
Yesterday, Webb told Lauer that ESPN had no reason to apologize.
“You know, I don’t think it was needed, honestly,’’ she said. “Of course I appreciate it.’’
When Lauer asked what her plans were for her newfound celebrity, she replied that she was both flattered and humbled — but that “we need to draw back our attention to who the real winners are, and that’s the Alabama football team.”
Her poise was hard won. Even though she’s now living a fairy tale, when Webb was younger she had something in common with the “Ugly Duckling’’ — they both got bullied.
Bullies targeted her because of her height – said to be 5’11” – and because of a skin discoloration condition called Vitiligo, a Fox 5 Atlanta reporter said, citing her parents.
Leslie and Alan Webb said their daughter learned of inner beauty while taking part in the pageant where she was crowned Miss Alabama USA 2012.
“That’s actually what the Miss USA pageant did for Katherine, is to help develop a better self-esteem to finally love herself,’’ her mom told Fox 5 Atlanta. “Her self-confidence grew dramatically because of that.’’