Former Miss Michigan defends tweets that led to her being stripped of her title.
Former Miss Michigan World Kathy Zhu claims Miss World America organization stripped her of her crown because of her conservative Republican views during an interview with 'America's Newsroom.'
Former Miss Michigan, Kathy Zhu, spoke out about her title being taken away from her after pageant officials deemed her to be too "racist" to wear the crown.
Zhu, who can be seen sporting a Make America Great Again hat in her social media posts, said the pageant was unhappy with two of her tweets about black on black crime and the wearing of hijabs.
"They took issue with two tweets, one about black on black violence, which was in response to another tweet, and another one about a hijab where I refused to wear a hijab because it just isn't in my religion. So I feel like it wasn't right for me to do so," she said on "America's Newsroom," Tuesday.
Zhu claimed she wasn't warned of the abrupt decision and said she was notified by text about issues with her social media account, before being dethroned via email.
"After the day I was announced [as the winner] the state director texted me, saying that there was a big issue with my Twitter post, and I say, what Twitter post? And she said, there's just a big issue. She never specified what it was, and then she called me briefly for like 5 minutes and quickly said it's a big issue. Your tweets are racist, islamophobic, and that's it," she said.
"Two hours later, an email came saying that I was stripped of my title."
Zhu posted a copy of the email from state director Laurie DeJack and said she was being blackballed for refusing to try on a hijab in 2018.
"Miss World America's State/National/Chief Director accused me of being racist, Islamaphobic, and insensitive," she wrote. "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 said she doesn't regret speaking her mind on Twitter and claimed the information to back up her statements is readily available and accessible.
"Everything I said I think, was based on statistics. The black on black violence one, you can find that information easily... The hijab tweet was actually my experience. I experienced that, no one else knows what happened except me," she said.
"Just two years ago Saudi Arabian women were allowed to drive, and I think that it's really important, how we should focus on that detail instead of the actual tweet. Empower women."
She admitted to deleting her tweet on hijabs but said her original tweet about black on black crime is still standing and screenshots of the first tweet still exist. Co-host Bill Hemmer read the statement from the pageant directors aloud and Zhu said she felt like she was being judged too harshly.
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"They reduced my character and my morals and who I am to one single tweet. And I don't think that's right," Zhu replied. "I think you should look at the broader version of things. And I think it's wrong for them to strip a woman's title only because she has a loud opinion and knows how to speak for herself."
"The pageant should really stand up for themselves and say hey, we support free speech. We support conservative women and liberal women. It doesn't matter what stance or what side you're on as long as we hear your voice and it empowers you, that's all that matters."
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