Miss USA Rima Fakih Speaks Out On Donald Trump & The Future Of The Pageant
Entertainment gossip website Perez Hilton interviewed Miss Universe 2010 contestant Rima Fakih, one of the most outspoken beauty queens, on the issue of the pageant with Donald Trump. She said losing some contestants for the pageant this year because of Trump’s comments is “a shame.”
“I like to emphasize the fact that Miss Universe Organization [has its] own entity,” Rima Fakih said in the video interview. “It’s kind a getting an allowance from someone to help build something. What we represent as a sisterhood, we’re definitely not on the same page as Mr. Trump.”
Weeks before the Miss USA 2015 pageant, Donald Trump expressed negative comments against some Mexican immigrants, saying they are “criminals, rapists and drug dealers” causing some countries to back out from joining.
Miss Universe contestant Rima Fakih represented the U.S. in 2010 and became the first Arab-American to win the national pageant. Her profile on the Miss Universe website said Rima Fakih was born in Lebanon and immigrated to New York in 1993.
Miss Universe contestant Rima Fakih, who was unplaced during the 2010 edition, also said she was upset with NBC dropping the airing of the pageant also because of Donald Trump’s remarks.
“They’re forgetting that all these girls who are signed up for a scholarship and who have been paying it forward with the organization, we needed that support from NBC and they did it so quickly,” she added.
Some South American nations have reportedly dropped out of the Miss Universe 2010 pageant as noted by Rima Fakih. Some of them are candidates from Mexico and Panama.
“It’s a shame,” she said. “Because that’s what really gets people going… I really want to pay it forward and show that we can definitely do it. Just because someone is helping fund the pageant does not mean that [it’s] exactly who we are.”
