Nowadays, it's not a beauty pageant without a touch of controversy.
With 65 years of the annual Miss USA pageant, there's bound to be a few public firestorms over what the contestants do, wear, or in most cases, say. This year's competition was no different as the newly crowned Miss USA 2017 Kára McCullough walked into her first few days with the crown putting out the flames ignited by her own Q&A portion.
On Sunday night, the 25-year-old Washington, D.C. native was asked about her stances on health care and feminism. "I'm definitely going to say it's a privilege," she said of health care. "As a government employee, I am granted health care and I see firsthand that for one to have health care, you need to have jobs, so therefore we need to continue to cultivate this environment that we're given the opportunity to have health care as well as jobs to all the American citizens worldwide."
In regard to feminism, she suggested it be replaced by the term, "Equalism." "I don't want to consider myself like this die-hard, you know, like, 'I don't really care about men,'" she said. "One thing I'll say, women, we are just as equal as men when it comes to opportunity in the workplace."
In a later interview with Good Morning America's Michael Strahan, the newly crowned Miss USA revisited her comments, clarifying that she is privileged to benefit from health care and believes everyone should have the right to such care. As for her stance on feminism, she did not want to be mistaken: "I don't want anyone to look at [it] as if I'm not all about women's rights because I am."
She's not the first contestant who has had to defend, clarify or simply face the backlash of her answer. Roll the tape:
What are your thoughts on McCullough's responses? Sound off in the comments!