She shouldn’t have said boo, because she had nothing for which to apologize.

I love how the article tries to insinuate that it was terrible that she took a week to respond to this manufactured controversy. Y’all ought to be ashamed of yourselves.

I think they said they have proof it was created by Leah Remini.

At least it helped them move beyond Fight Club.

Those things don’t bother me. Here’s the reason I don’t go to public pools.

definitely a subset of straight men who obsessed over her boobs. And I can only imagine the press corps during those stupid junkets.

I think she’s talked about it with Colbert (because, as a Catholic, she and him have had conversations) in the general “some really WEIRD STUFF, RIGHT STEPHEN-O?” way that Catholics (and not just Former Catholics) talk to each other in the 2021.

Yeah I’m so confused I feel like The Root already did an article on this festival like last year? I didn’t see it linked

The internet was a pretty barren place in the 90s. I remember it well. So someone would have had to have access to the internet, know about Google, and then found a website that had information on the racist history of their local community’s traditions.

Yeah, I agree, ever been 19? I can personally say that I was still largely as dumb and unaware as I was at 17, and I had dropped out of one college already, was attending community college, and living back in my childhood bedroom.

Ooh, these seem easy. I want to do one! How about:

Jesus Christ! Don’t get me started on all the stupid shit I said and did at 19! Some of it may even be spun as being racist when it was actually just utter ignorance and lack of thought. I think people forget how fucking hard of a transition time those last few years of being a teen are. Apparently, you’re capable of…

This story essentially feeds into the allegations of every MAGA right-winger who claims the media is a mouth piece for dishonest progressive activists. I can’t even believe the number of outlets who have reported as fact that this pageant was, in 1999, associated with racism or white supremacists and that Kemper is at…

Oh man, you didn’t check in to see how this insane stretch of a nothing-burger was getting roasted over at The Root? Cause it’s getting no traction there, and it feels like their readership should know.

So she entered a pageant and/or attended some weird debutante event. Is there any indication that she was aware it had a racist history? It may be hard for some on here to believe, but googling the damn thing wasn’t an option in 1999.

As a native of “Azalea Trail” country, this.

I tried to reply a bit ago and am not seeing it (even in the gray comments where it wound up.)

It is possible to filter search results by custom date range if you click Tools and proceed to do so.

Yes, the “cruel and exploitative press” who lauded her for her BLM stance and gained her record winnings and sponsorships in the last year, about whom TODAY Osaka said “The tennis press has always been kind to me (and I wanna apologize especially to all the cool journalists who I may have hurt).”

Gwen was cool once.  And while the rest of the world grew up, she didn’t, and longs for a time when that same schtick might make her cool again.