Twitterati slammed Miss USA for her comments.
Indian American Chhavi Verg, who represented New Jersey, became the first runner-up in Miss USA 2017 on May 14. The competition was held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. Miss District of Columbia Kara McCullough won the coveted title of Miss USA 2017. However, some people pointed that Verg deserved the top honor.
The 20-year-old Verg, who was one of five immigrant-competitors and the second Indian American Miss New Jersey USA, was praised by many. Several wished her to be the real winner, considering her intelligence and confidence, especially after McCullough’s comment on healthcare was widely questioned.
McCullough, who works as a scientist at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission referred healthcare as a privilege, not a right and also said that she don’t want to be called as a feminist.
“I’m definitely going to say it’s a privilege,” McCullough said while responding to a question, nj.com reported. “As a government employee, I am granted health care and I see firsthand that for one to have healthcare you need to have jobs, so, therefore, we need to cultivate this environment that we’re given the opportunity to have healthcare as well as jobs to all the American citizens worldwide.”
“I don’t want to call myself a feminist. Women, we are just equal as men, especially in the workplace,” she replied, to another question.
“Feminism is striving for equality and I do consider myself a feminist. I think it’s a misconception when people believe that feminism is women being better than men. But it’s really not. It’s a fight for equality. And we need to realize that if we want a stable society, a better future for every single individual, we need to be equal,” Verg explicated while talking on feminism.
Twitterati slammed Miss USA for her comments and many people praised Verg’s answers and opined that she was more deserving.
“DC may have won the electoral judges, but NJ won the popular vote,” one twitter user wrote.
“Miss New Jersey was robbed. Miss D.C. did not deserve to win, I’m sorry,” another woman tweeted.
Verg’s answer to the dangers of social media has become a talking point on social media as the Miss Miss New Jersey borrowed the words of Peter Parker to say “with great powers come great responsibility;” and aptly enough in the current scenario where social media is sometimes misused.
The Indian-born Verg, who studies marketing and Spanish at Rutgers University, moved to the United States when she was four. The Edison, NJ, resident competed against 50 other women in the pageant, which was earlier owned by Donald Trump.