Tweet on black beauty pageant winners irks Twitterati

A tweet about black women bagging titles ranging from Miss Universe to Miss Teen USA by a media house irked a section of Twitterati on Sunday.

While many users tweeted congratulatory messages, there were others who were clearly not happy with talk of skin colour of the winners.

BBC News (World) @BBCWorld tweeted the news about Toni-Ann Singh winning the 69th Miss World beauty pageant and wrote: "It's the first time in history that black women hold the titles for Miss USA, Miss Teen USA, Miss America, Miss Universe and Miss World."

It got 234 retweets and 930 likes.

In reply, one offended user wrote; "Of course. We're trying very hard to not be racist. I still don't know how you can choose between all these beautiful, intelligent, talented women. I think it's a shame that race comes into play."

"Perhaps this is progress, but when are we going to outgrow beauty contests altogether? Never, you say? Sad," wrote another.

One user said: "About time... we see beauty and not colour."

A user let his displeasure known: "2020 and still talking about beauty contests for women...."

Another went on similar lines: "2020 and BBC still talking about skin colour !! She's beautiful."

One user was clearly not decided: "Not sure if this is a good thing or not, but good for the ladies though for accomplishing their goals."

With the crowning of Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica as Miss World on Saturday, she joined the all-black women club of 2019 Miss USA Cheslie Kryst, 2019 Miss Teen USA Kaliegh Garris, 2019 Miss America Nia Franklin and 2019 Miss Universe Zozibini Tunzi.

( With inputs from IANS )