Michigan beauty queen, Kathy Zhu stripped of her title and ousted from Miss World America pageant after being accused of being racist, inciting and hateful. Free speech vs hate speech- does one lead to the other?
A beauty queen known for her pro Trump conservative views has been stripped of her Miss Michigan title along with being ousted from the Miss World America pageant. The dethroning comes after the the pageant queen’s social media profile was brought to organizers attention who deemed the woman’s posts ‘offensive, insensitive and inappropriate.’
Kathy Zhu, 20, and president of College Republicans at the University of Michigan, tweeted screenshots of email correspondences with the Miss World America organization notifying Zhu of her dismissal on Thursday.
‘They stripped me of my Miss Michigan title due to my refusal to try on a hijab in 2018, my tweet about black on black gun violence, and ‘insensitive’ statistical tweets,’ Zhu asserted Thursday.
The Miss World America Organization strips conservative activist Kathy Zhu of her Miss Michigan title for refusing to Wear Hijab and “insensitive” social media posts. pic.twitter.com/mxNRH5MeVu
— Fox & Friends First (@FoxFriendsFirst) July 19, 2019
Social media piles on after Miss Michigan’s ouster:
Following Zhu’s ouster, the beauty pageant received a torrent of responses as social media weighed in.
Posted one social media user: ‘It’s crazy how your average joe these days, think they’re these great civil rights leaders. In reality they’re just bored, hateful, bullies. Who think it’s cool to harass people they don’t agree with.’
While another use posted, ‘You go girl!!!! Don’t be bullied or threatened into doing things that go against who you are!!!!! Sorry you had to take one for the MAGA team. But we are all very proud of you!!!!!!!! You rock.’
While user, David Nicoli posted, ‘The left only likes stats they agree with… everything that disrupts the narrative is racist.’
While many many supported Zhu’s right to maintain her views- even if that meant possibly offending others (welcome to the brave new world called America 2019) – others condemned the ‘insensitive’ pageant contestant who many believed was required to hold more united and less confrontational and polarizing point of views.
See here’s the thing about Kathy Zhu:
On some level, she realizes her social media activity is wrong
So instead of owning that, she has decided to throw in a lie about being ousted because she wouldn’t wear a hijab in 2018
She’s telling on herself and she doesn’t even know it
— Kassandra Seven (@KassandraSeven) July 19, 2019
Her lie is being spread by alt right and mainstream media.
They’re making it a political issue and saying Democrats are responsible for it.
It’s a mess.
All because she wanted attention and lied.
— Kassandra Seven (@KassandraSeven) July 19, 2019
Its interesting how people like Kathy Zhu can come here and disrespect Foundational Black Americans by spewing the ol’ “Black on Black crime” rhetoric, but ignore large, violent criminal organizations from HER culture, like the Triads https://t.co/ZlWD7tQaNm
— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) July 19, 2019
Don’t get it twisted- #KathyZhu was stripped of her title for disgusting tweets. Tweets that were racist. NOT BECAUSE SHE IS A CONSERVATIVE. Plenty of conservatives don’t tweet that shit. Words have consequences. Hate has consequences.
— Panicked Antics (@slutmuffin0822) July 20, 2019
Thank you 🙏🏼 pic.twitter.com/quEC4ibjCp
— Kathy Zhu (@PoliticalKathy) July 19, 2019
Kathy Zhu: ‘This is about the prejudice views against people with different opinions:
Told Zhu who regularly comments on political issues on her social media platforms via the Detroit Free Press, ‘I have seen this happen before. It is just not okay to be prejudiced against people who just have a different political view as you.’
‘I woke up this morning with an overwhelming amount of support; I can’t thank you all enough,’ Zhu posted to her supporters on Friday. ‘I am glad this story came to light because this is more than just some beauty pageant, this is about the prejudice views against people with ‘different opinions.”
But that didn’t stop Zhu from also having a go at her critics who she labelled, ‘the tolerant left.’ Aka tolerant as long as you agree with their views. Which is another way of saying- ‘it’s free as long as you can afford it.’
Fissure ignited after attention from social media posts Zhu had previously made caught the attention of dissenters.
In 2017, Zhu tweeted that African Americans needed to fix problems within their own community because the ‘majority of black deaths are caused by other blacks.’ Zhu defended the tweet on Twitter Friday, claiming statistics backed her statement – while denying she is a racist.
‘When the left calls you racist for using statistics to back up your claim, you know you’re on the right side of history,’ Zhu responded.
Someone called me an islamophobic for not wanting to put on a hijab.
Someone called me a racist because I recognize that black people kill more blacks than police do.
Good luck to those who are as gullible as this.
— Kathy Zhu (@PoliticalKathy) July 19, 2019
Does one become Islamophobic if they refuse to wear a hijab? Or is this more than just refusing to wear a head dress?
And then there was the incident involving a hijab– which in and of itself has become a loaded metaphor of strife alluding to the anti immigration sweep embroiling America and general mistrust of Muslims.
Responding to her dismissal from Miss World America, Zhu said a Muslim woman tried to ‘forcibly’ put a hijab on her head on her college campus in 2018. Something Zhu conceded taking exception to.
Zhu said she refused to wear the garment in support of women in the Middle East who are getting ‘stoned to death’ for refusing to obey their husbands’ orders to wear hijabs. In an effort to make her point, Zhu also asked Miss World America officials if they would have dismissed her if she refused to wear Catholic rosary beads instead of the Muslim hijab.
Others, including this author wonder if Zhu’s ouster may have also had more to do with her belligerence and turning the beauty pageant into a political theater where her conservative views received maximum airplay- irrespective of whether she wore a rose bead or hijab.
Come Friday, Zhu who by now was lapping up her new found heightened publicity posted that she would not be taking any legal action against Miss World America officials because they ‘have suffered enough negative publicity – especially because they wanted to decrown me due to not wanting bad publicity in the first place.’
Which is another way of saying, ‘I’d love to have another apple pie candy bar but my bag is full of cherry candy pies- maybe next time?’
Miss World America declined to comment about the nature of Zhu’s dismissal when approached by Scallywagandvagabond.com.
I think I gained way more support/publicity from this situation than I would have if I won Miss World America.
Thank you 😊 https://t.co/GOTkbecYBo
— Kathy Zhu (@PoliticalKathy) July 20, 2019
