Miss USA Speaks Out on Donald Trump Mexican Flap to CNN’s Don Lemon: He Has ‘Right to Free Speech’
“Mr. Trump is running for president and he needs to get out issues that are important to him,” pageant winner says
Deborah Day | July 14, 2015 @ 10:30 PM
Last Updated: July 15, 2015 @ 10:38 AM
Newly crowned Miss USA Olivia Jordan chalked up Donald Trump’s controversial comments about Mexican immigrants to “free speech” in an interview with Don Lemon Tuesday on “CNN Tonight.”
“Mr. Trump is running for president and he needs to get out issues that are important to him, and immigration is certainly a hot topic issue that everyone’s talking about. I think that it’s good to talk about immigration,” Jordan said. “He has the right to free speech and his own opinion.
“The pageant is, in many ways, very separate from him and is certainly separate from the presidential race,” she said.
Jordan assured Lemon that the pageant community is very diverse and that diversity is “celebrated.” She also said that Miss Universe 2014 Paulina Vega, a native of Colombia and who recently took Trump to task over his comments, is now her roommate.
Jordan, Miss Oklahoma, was crowned the 2015 winner of the Miss USA pageant Sunday night.
NBC and Spanish-language broadcaster Univision dropped the pageant in June following comments made by Trump at a campaign event in which he referred to undocumented immigrants as “rapists.” Reelz picked up the pageant’s broadcast rights for “no more than $100,000,” as TheWrap reported exclusively.
Trump posted to Twitter that he would not attend Sunday’s ceremony because he was busy campaigning.
I will not be able to attend the Miss USA pageant tomorrow night because I am campaigning in Phoenix. Wishing all well!
Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard told TheWrap that the network “does not endorse Trump’s comments regarding Mexicans.” Hubbard, whose father Stanley Hubbard is a regular donor to Republican political campaigns, added, “I am not a supporter of Donald Trump for president.”
Jordan is a graduate of Boston University, where she earned a B.S. in health science. She has appeared in both national and international commercials, and recently had a cameo in “Hot Tub Time Machine 2.” She claims to have watched every episode of “Friends” at least three times.
Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant: Meet the 51 Contestants (Photos)
Miss USA Pageant
Madison Guthrie (Miss Alabama) Representing the University of Alabama, Guthrie was the only fan selected to be featured in the ESPN "Who's In?" 2014 college football commercials
Renee Wronecki (Miss Illinois) After she graduated from high school, Wronecki and her mother were both diagnosed with skin cancer. They're now cancer-free
Miss USA Pageant
Gretchen Reece (Miss Indiana) Reece is a registered American Kennel Club breeder. Throughout college, she paid for textbooks by saving money from three litters she sold
Miss USA Pageant
Taylor Even (Miss Iowa) Even hopes to graduate from college with a respiratory therapy degree and work at a children’s hospital
Miss USA Pageant
Alexis Railsback (Miss Kansas) Railsback has a fraternal twin sister named Ashley who is older than her by two minutes, but shorter than her by six inches
Miss USA Pageant
Katie George (Miss Kentucky) George was the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year and Prep Volleyball's National Player of the Year
Miss USA Pageant
Candice Bennatt (Miss Louisiana) Bennatt serves as an Ambassador for the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Heather Elwell (Miss Maine) She can play seven different instruments including the flute, tenor saxophone and violin
Miss USA Pageant
Mame Adjei (Miss Maryland) Adjei's first modeling experience was at the age of six in Switzerland, when she was scouted to be featured in a Church brochure
Jessica Scheu (Miss Minnesota) Scheu is a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do
Miss USA Pageant
Courtney Byrd (Miss Mississippi) Byrd sponsors and writes to a girl in India through Compassion International
Miss USA Pageant
Rebecca Dunn (Miss Missouri) Dunn studied abroad in Europe and went on a mission trip to Africa where she visited orphanages in Kenya and Malawi
Miss USA Pageant
Tahnee Peppenger (Miss Montana) Peppenger plans on serving her state and country through public or military service
Miss USA Pageant
Hoang-Kim Cung (Miss Nebraska) Growing up, Cung built computers with her brother and now is learning how to code
Miss USA Pageant
Brittany McGowan (Miss Nevada) McGowan is multi-racial. She is English, Irish, Scottish, Italian, Puerto Rican and African American
Miss USA Pageant
Samantha Poirier (Miss New Hampshire) Poirier is a 23-year-old model, student and outdoor enthusiast from Dover, New Hampshire
Miss USA Pageant
Vanessa Oriolo (Miss New Jersey) Oriolo speaks English, Italian and Spanish
Miss USA Pageant
Alexis Duprey (Miss New Mexico) Duprey's family has three German Shorthaired Pointers. Lucca (the oldest) is a show grand champion.
Miss USA Pageant
Thatiana Diaz (New York) Diaz was features editor for Pace University's The Pace Press and interned at several companies including Vogue and Latina Magazine
Julia Dalton (Miss North Carolina) Dalton can quote every episode of the NBC series "Friends"
Miss USA Pageant
Molly Ketterling (Miss North Dakota) Ketterling attended the International Science Fair for two years thanks to her growing and studying cancer cells in a Petri dish
Miss USA Pageant
Sarah Newkirk (Miss Ohio) Newkirk was home schooled and did not have a television in her home until the ninth grade
Miss USA Pageant
Olivia Jordan (Miss Oklahoma) While at Boston University, Jordan won first prize in a pie baking contest, taking the prize for Alpha Phi in an all-sorority bake-off
Kiara Young (Miss Tennessee) Young has been a NFL cheerleader for the Tennessee Titans for two years
Miss USA Pageant
Ylianna Guerra (Miss Texas) Guerra has worked with various nonprofit organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Easter Seals, Proyecto Desarollo Humano and the Texas Children's Hospital
Miss USA Pageant
Nicol Powell (Miss Utah) Powell was a "Child of Light" ice skater for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
Miss USA Pageant
Jackie Croft (Miss Vermont) Croft is ambidextrous, making her able to use both sides of her body equally
Miss USA Pageant
Laura Puleo (Miss Virginia) Puleo graduated from Duke with degrees in Latin and Attic Greek
Kenzi Novell (Miss Washington) After finding out Syfy would be filming a zombie television show in her hometown, Novell auditioned and was cast as a zombie in "ZNation"