Associated Press
LAS VEGAS – The new Miss Teen USA calls her use of racist language on social media a “careless mistake,” saying she was influenced by friends.
The 18-year-old Texan Karlie Hay, in a Good Morning Amer-ica interview last week, apolo-gized for her tweets in 2013 and 2014 that used the N-word.
The posts were unearthed hours after she was crowned the winner of the beauty pag-eant Saturday in Las Vegas.
Hay said she’s ashamed and that she was being a follower, trying to fit in with friends and influenced by the music she lis-tened to.
The beauty queen said she has since grown up and hopes that others will learn from her mistake.
The Miss Universe Organiza-tion condemned the tweets but has stood by her as critics called for Hay to lose her crown.
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