Politics

Pageant Removal 'Could Turn into a Positive Thing' -- Young Republican Kathy Zhu

July 25, 2019, 2:03 PM

University of Michigan senior Kathu Zhu voices no regrets or apologies a week after being un-crowned as Miss Michigan in a national pageant. 

Instead, she savors media attention and even a brief shoutout from the president.

"I’m very glad a negative thing could turn into a positive thing,” the 20-year-old political science major tells Ingrid Jacques, Detroit News deputy editorial page editor. 

"Stand your ground" is a guiding principle, says Zhu, vice chair of the Young Republicans chapter on campus. She was booted from an October pageant in Las Vegas via a July 18 email from the Miss World America state director because her "social media accounts contain offensive, insensitive and inappropriate content."


Kathy Zhu: "I actually don't regret anything." (Photo: Fox 2 News video)

The ex-contestant shared that on Twitter and commented: "They stripped me of my Miss Michigan title due to my refusal to try on a hijab in 2018, my tweet about black on black gun violence and 'insensitive' statistical tweets."

In the new Detroit interview, Zhu tells the editorial page columnist her tweets were taken out of context and were factual.

“They never let me explain myself," she says. "They just automatically assumed everything. 

“. . . Honestly, I actually don't regret anything I've posted on my account," she says. "I know my own intentions and I know that my heart wasn't in the wrong place when I posted those things."

Media attention includes an appearance as last Sunday's first guest on "Let it Rip Weekend," a Fox 2 News panel discussion (video below), and a network interview Tuesday on "Fox and Friends" at its Manhattan studio.

President Trump alluded to Zhu during remarks at a Teen Student Action Summit in Washington. "What they did to this young lady was terrible," he told the conservative students' gathering in Washington, mentioning that he saw her on Fox that morning "wearing a Make America Great Again Hat." 

The News' columnist also sides with the undergraduate "who dreams of having her own talk show:"

It’s her conservative political leanings that have gotten the college student into hot water, particularly since the left is doing its best to portray all Trump enthusiasts as racists. 

Related coverage:

Pageant Expels University of Michigan College Republican for 'Offensive, Insensitive' Tweets, July 19


Read more:  The Detroit News


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