MISS USA SLAMMED FOR MOCKING ASIAN CONTESTANTS
Reigning Miss USA (and Papillion-La Vista South H.S. graduate) Sarah Rose Summers of Nebraska has apologized on Instagram after getting dragged for openly mocking Miss Vietnam H'Hen Nie, and Miss Cambodia Sinat Rern, for not speaking English.
In a video captured by Miss Colombia Valeria Morales, Summers, 24, asks, and then answers, "What do you think of Miss Vietnam Nie?"
Summers says: "She's so cute and she pretends to know so much English, and then you ask her a question after having a whole conversation with her and she goes [smiles and nods]. She's adorable."
Later in the video, Summers appears to have empathy for Rern: "Miss Cambodia is here and doesn't speak any English and not a single other person speaks her language. Can you imagine? [Miss Australia] Francesca [Hung] said 'that would be so isolating,' and I said, 'Yes, and just confusing all the time.' Poor Cambodia."
In her apology, Summers says: "In a moment where I intended to admire the courage of a few of my sisters, I said something that I now realize can be perceived as not respectful, and I apologize."
TMZ reached out to her mother Desiree, who says: "She in no way meant any harm. She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body." As for imitating Miss Vietnam, Desiree says, "[Summers] was just recreating how Miss Vietnam acts when she doesn’t understand what someone is saying. She wasn’t trying to mock her."
(Pulse Networks)