It’s downright un-American!
Just minutes after the dark-skinned Indian-American beauty Nina Davuluri was crowned Miss America Sunday night, bigoted nitwits took to Twitter to rant about the decision.
“Well they just picked a Muslim for Miss America. That must’ve made Obama happy. Maybe he had a vote,” griped Elizabeth@EJR Buckeye.
“This is Miss America…Not Miss Foreign Country,” tweeted Meredith Talley@meredithRoanell
“She’s like not even american and she won miss america,” added Kat@kathrynRyan50.
Others rushed to her defense – including Questlove, drummer for The Roots.
“i think its amazing that @NinaDavuluri was crowned Miss America. THIS is the american story,” he tweeted
For the record, Davuluri is American, and she is not a Muslim.
She is, however, the first Indian-American to be crowned Miss America, and the second New Yorker in as many years to win the coveted tiara.
Davuluri took the a dip in the Atlantic Ocean, marking the return of the pageant to Atlantic City.
“I’m so honored to be the new spokesperson for Atlantic City,” she said.
Davuluri herself had a classy response when asked about the uproar moments after she was crowned.
“I have to rise above that,” said Davuluri. “I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”
She started the day with an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and was set to make the TV rounds throughout the day with a visit to “Fox and Friends.”
She will also meet with former Miss America Vanessa Williams, a New York resident who was crowned 30 years ago in Atlantic City.
The Syracuse resident, 24, competed on a theme of “Celebrating Diversity through Cultural Competency.”
And her high-energy dance -a combination of classical Indian steps and Bollywood dramatics – wowed the judges in Atlantic City Sunday night.
Davuluri – who wants to be a physician like her doctor dad – later cancelled a planned appearance Monday afternoon at Seaside Heights, NJ, the scene of a devastating boardwalk fire last week.
The visit was canceled after pageant officials learned that Gov. Chris Christie was making cabinet members available to business owners affected by the fire at the same time Davuluri planned to visit.
The University of Michigan grad will go sometime in the future.
Correction: On Sunday, Blogger Aly Walansky posted the tweet “The sad thing is, Miss Kansas didn’t make it because America isn’t ready to crown someone who represents AMERICA. #MissAmerica,” after third-place Miss Kansas Theresa Vail was eliminated, leaving only Miss New York Nina Davuluri (an Indian-American) and Miss Florida Myrrhanda Jones in contention for the title. She did not tweet it after Davuluri was crowned.