Donald Trump, current Miss Universe Paulina Vega exchange words
Ultimately, we were waiting for something like this to happen: A prominent person within the Miss Universe community speaking out against Donald Trump’s recent comments about immigration and Mexican-Americans. This time around, it just happens to be the person who actually has the sash at present in Paulina Vega.
Following a series of other dominoes falling, including the Miss USA pageant losing a home at NBC (Reelz Channel has since picked it up) and Trump losing a deal with Macy’s, Vega released a statement today in solidarity with the community insulted by Trump’s comments. She also did her best to distance herself and the organization from one of its co-owners:
“I find Mr. Trump’s comments unjust and hurtful. As a Colombian and as Miss Universe, I want to show my support and validate the sentiments of the Latin community.
“The Miss Universe Organization works independently from its owners. For the past 64 years, they have created partnerships with great charity groups and have helped thousands of communities. Their legacy of uniting countries from around the world has been inspiring to many. If the Miss Universe Organization shared any anti-Latin sentiments or any type of racial biases, I wouldn’t be in this position today.”
Meanwhile, Trump responded to her comments on Twitter using some pretty strong language of his own.
Here’s the thing, though: If Vega is saying that Miss Universe operates fairly independently from Trump, why is she a “hypocrite” for keeping the crown and and wanting to do more of her work? Regardless of whoever you side with here, it feels like we should be applauding someone in the pageant world for taking a stand and having a voice, given that so often we criticize many of them for giving cookie-cutter answers at pageants.
We already reported that several Latin American countries have withdrawn from the 2015 Miss Universe pageant over Trump’s comments. Let us know who you side with here below, and sign up to gather some more updates on everything we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: Miss Universe.)