South Carolina residents were outraged after the woman who represented them in Sunday’s Miss America pageant suggested that 20 percent of them live in a trailer.
“I’m from the state where 20 percent of our homes are mobile because that’s how we roll,” said Miss South Carolina, Brooke Mosteller, from Mount Pleasant.
The show began with the traditional parade of states, in which each contestant briefly introduces herself and her state, usually in an attention-grabbing manner, The State first reported.
Miss Kentucky, for example, said: “From the home of fast horses and beautiful women — better not get those two things mixed up — I’m Jenna Day, Miss Kentucky!”
Miss Mosteller failed to make it to the semifinals of the competition, and the Twitterverse was abuzz for reasons why.
“20% of our homes are mobile and this intro is 100% embarrassing,” one user wrote, according to The State.
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“So much to be proud of in our beautiful state and Miss South Carolna [sic] chooses mobile homes in her introduction,” another commenter said.
Another: “South Carolina: Where beauty pageant contestants take pride in our state’s pervasive poverty.”
But regardless of whether a beauty contest is the appropriate venue to broach such a statistic, Miss South Carolina wasn’t far off: In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau recorded 17.9 percent of the state’s residents living in mobile homes, making it No. 1 in the country.
