Miss World dethrones former UCF student over comments on hijab booth

Las Vegas, Nv. — The Miss World America organization has stripped its Michigan pageant winner of her title, which she says was because of tweets she made about Muslims and black people.

Kathy Zhu was crowned the pageant’s Michigan winner last week.

She’s a University of Michigan conservative who’s active with a group called Chinese Americans for Trump, but also spent time at the University of Central Florida.

In since-deleted tweets from the last two years, Zhu alluded to Muslim women wearing hijabs as “being oppressed under Islam” and disparaged black people for “blaming others” in regard to crime.

Many of the tweets have been deleted but a Facebook post about a “try a hijab booth” on U.C.F. campus is still active.

The booth was sponsored by a student Muslim group on World Hijab Day.

In the post, Zhu asks if a hijab is a religious thing, a fashion accessory or a way to oppress women.

Many called for disciplinary action after the post but U.C.F. officials said Zhu did not violate any rules of conduct.

She later transferred to the University of Michigan.

Fast forward to the current controversy, where Zhu posted a letter online in which pageant officials described her tweets as “offensive” and “inappropriate.” Zhu calls the decision discriminatory and defends the tweets.

Pageant officials didn’t respond to a Sunday message seeking comment. It’s unclear who’ll represent Michigan in Miss World America’s October competition in Las Vegas.

Miss World America is separate from the more widely-known Miss America contest.