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31/07/2017
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By James Bennett jbennett@c-dh.net
Posted Jul 30, 2017 at 10:12 AM
Updated Jul 30, 2017 at 9:43 PM
Judges at the Miss Teen USA pageant did not prefer blondes in 2017.
That left Miss Teen Tennessee Megan Ski Hollingsworth of Lewisburg out of the top 15 Saturday night in Phoenix through no fault of her own.
Let me weigh in with my opinion off the top. I think it was a case of political correctness gone amok after last year’s judging debacle in Las Vegas.
The Columbia State Community College and Marshall County High School graduate just happened to be competing the year after judges and Miss Teen USA were scorched by critics for having five white, blonde finalists in 2016, and the winner had to apologize for regularly using the “N-word” on her social media accounts when she was younger.
Hollingsworth stood out from the beginning of Friday night’s preliminary competition with the lightest hair color of all 51 contestants. Her mane glistened under the bright show lights and her sky-blue eyes were enhanced by advances in high-definition television.
The judges were having none of it. They made up for the mistakes of 2016 and picked 10 dark-haired finalists in the top 15, including eventual winner Sophia Dominguez-Heithoff of Missouri. Only one of the final five contestants was a blonde, runner-up Vanessa Matheson of Oregon.
Coincidence? Maybe. But I think not. Here’s why.
The 2016 judges apparently gave little or no thought to diversity in crowning the then-controversial Karlie Hay as the winner.
The completely different 2017 judging panel — comprised of cosmetics guru Divya Gugnani, “Dance Moms” actress Kalani Hilliker, 2014 Miss Teen USA K. Lee Graham, beauty company executive Tamaya Petteway and Phoenix anchorwoman Syleste Rodriguez — wasn’t going to pay the same price.
In Las Vegas last year, Miss Universe Organization, which owns and stages Miss Teen USA, was re-establishing its identity after being sold by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
When Miss Universe tweeted out the top five finalists in 2016, twitter lit up with disdain. Five blondes, how was that possible? Were the judges painfully unaware of diversity? Did Trump somehow have his thumb on the scale?
Miss Teen USA 2010 Kamie Crawford weighed in with some of heaviest criticism.
“I can take the #missteenusa top 5 being an all-white, all-blonde top 5. What I can’t take is — why didn’t the winner clean up her page?” Crawford wrote on Twitter.
Hay issued a statement apologizing for her youthful mistakes. It was one of the most-embarrassing moments in pageant history.
“A few years ago, I used language that is inexcusable, and I sincerely apologize for my actions,” Hay said in her statement. “At the time, due to a number of personal struggles, I was in a place that is not representative of who I am now.
“Through hard work, education, maturity and thanks in large part to the sisterhood that I have come to know through pageants, I am proud to say that I am today a better person. I am honored to hold this title and I will use the Miss Teen USA platform to promote messages of confidence, inclusion and perseverance.”
Miss Universe backed her in a statement: “The language Karlie Hay used is unacceptable at any age and in no way reflects the values of The Miss Universe Organization. As Karlie stated, she was in a different place in her life and made a serious mistake she regrets and for which she sincerely apologizes.
“Karlie learned many lessons through those personal struggles that reshaped her life and values. We as an organization are committed to supporting her continued growth.”
Among pageant controversies through the years, the dust-up was mild. The tempest in a teapot passed, duly noted.
It wasn’t like when Miss Universe host Steve Harvey announced the wrong winner in 2015. He initially handed the crown to Miss Colombia instead of Miss Philippines.
In wasn’t like in 1984, when future superstar Vanessa Williams resigned in the rival Miss America system 10 months after nude photos were published of her taken before she won.
My contention is that Miss Teen USA wasn’t about to be accused of being tone deaf in 2017. It already was under the microscope with Trump’s legacy lurking in the distance. It didn’t need any more rotten media cycles.
Amid a push to establish its popularity and win a national TV contract, I doubt its executives would have been crass enough to tell judges explicitly to take off points for being blonde. There was no box on the judging form for scoring hair color.
In my opinion, our local contestant was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She suffered collateral damage, the fallout, if you will, from 2016. Let’s call it political correctness, or more accurately, political over correctness.
Hollingsworth wore the most beautiful blue gown. Her tropical tan was a perfect compliment to her blue eyes. And all of those cross-fit workouts since she won Miss Tennessee Teen USA had her in better shape than a WNBA player. Her abs looked as hard as the sun-baked Arizona desert, the backdrop for this year’s pageant.
It’s true, we don’t know how Hollingsworth did in private interviews with the judges. She might not have been as smooth as the 15 finalists. But I doubt it.
A veteran of more than 40 pageants, Hollingsworth knows herself. She knows if she bombed. She came out of Friday morning’s interview by saying, “Nailed it. Couldn’t have gone better.”
Unfortunately, I just think the judges were pre-disposed on their own to go with another look. In a pageant or any other job interview, that’s their right.
I asked Hollingsworth’s family about my contention Sunday morning, just before they flew back to Nashville. Her father, Gary, drove cross country to watch his daughter — 24 hours each way. None of them agreed with me.
“I would rather than she won,” Gary said. “She wasn’t upset. She felt fortunate to be there to start with as Miss Tennessee. She’ll be back. I think she wants to compete in Miss USA next, maybe in a couple of years.”
The line between Miss Teen USA contestants is thin. They’re all beautiful and most of them very smart.
By now, you may think I’m crying over spilled milk because our hometown contestant was left out of the top 15. I’m not. Many of you wrote on social media or thought, “What went wrong?”
I’m just pointing out the obvious.
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James Bennett is editor of The Daily Herald. He was a 2017 Tennessee Press Association first-place award winner for editorial writing and public service. Contact him at jbennett@c-dh.net.
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