October 13, 2016

Former Miss Teen USA Accuses Trump of Racial Preferences at Pageants

The Republican candidate likes only certain “types” of black people, she said in a series of tweets.

Former Miss Teen USA 2010 Kamie Crawford.Ajm/PA Wire via ZUMA Press

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As women continue to come forward with allegations of sexual assault and misconduct by Donald Trump, news outlets have also begun reporting on his behavior at beauty pageants. On Wednesday, BuzzFeed reported that at least five women competing in the 1997 Miss Teen USA pageant recalled Trump entering a dressing room while the contestants, some of them as young as 15 years old, were changing. On Thursday, the Guardian shared a similar story from a Miss USA contestant who said that Trump “just barged right in” to the contestants’ dressing room despite being told that the women were undressed.

But according to one former Miss Teen USA, Trump’s beauty pageant misdeeds didn’t stop at entering dressing rooms, but also extended to racist behavior towards black contestants.

In a series of tweets posted Wednesday, Kamie Crawford described her first interaction with Donald Trump after winning the competition in 2010. Crawford, who was seventeen at the time and was the first black girl to win the title in nearly a decade, said that prior to meeting Trump, she was warned that “Mr. Trump doesn’t like black people,” and that if he did respond to her kindly, it would be because she was the “type of black he likes.”

Crawford also recalled a moment when Trump turned his back on a black contestant during rehearsals for Miss Universe:

She adds that Trump proudly showed her off after her victory, and in another tweet says that he “bragged about how ‘beautiful’ and ‘well spoken'” she was:

Crawford’s story is not the first time that Trump has been accused of being racially insensitive towards pageant contestants. Earlier this month, Trump engaged in a highly public feud with Alicia Machado, a Latina Miss Universe winner whom Trump once referred to as “Miss Housekeeping.” The Republican presidential candidate has also been heavily criticized by black former Apprentice contestants, who have said that Trump—who once suggested that the show have a Black vs. White season—clearly favored white competitors. 

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