Miss Teen USA contender lambasted following the resurfacing of an old N-word video.
This beauty pageant scandal has taken a turn for the worse.
A Miss Teen USA contender is facing backlash following the widespread spread of an alleged video of her using the N-word on TikTok.
Kate Dixon, 17, is scheduled to represent Washington in the forthcoming pageant, but there are already requests on social media for her to be disqualified due to her use of the racial slur.
Dixon reportedly used the insult in 2018, when she was 14 years old, but it reappeared on social media last week.
@juliuspleazerfanaccount of TikTok published the archived footage, which has accumulated over 8.4 million views.
The TikTok video begins with footage of Dixon being crowned Miss Teen Washington before cutting to a 2018 clip showing the teen using the N-word.
“You’re a gangster, n—-r!” Dixon may be seen declaring just before she bursts out laughing.
Additionally, the TikTok clip included an older video of Dixon lip-syncing to filthy audio that reads, “I adore men only when they have money and large c—s.”
Miss Teen USA has been contacted for comment.
Dixon appeared on FOX13 Seattle to apologize for using the slur, claiming she was forced to use it by upperclassmen at her school.
“They pressured me into shouting a racial term,” said the beauty queen. “I said, ‘No, I’m not going to say that.’ I am aware that this is inappropriate.’ And they informed me, ‘You have a complimentary pass for this one time only. That would be amusing.’ Thus, after much persuading, I said the word they desired and was recorded without my knowledge.”
Dixon reported that within days after the video was filmed, it swiftly spread across her school. She faced bullying and death threats, which ultimately compelled her to leave the educational institution.
The pageant queen stated that the video had returned irregularly over the last three years, and she is unsurprised it made its way to TikTok following her crowning as Miss Teen Washington.
“I’ve learned my lesson, and I’ve abstained from using that word ever since,” she claimed.
Pageants Northwest — the organization that controls four states in the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA organizations — is standing by Dixon for the time being.
“What she did was completely inappropriate,” Maureen Francisco, the company’s executive producer, told FOX 13. “However, our organization’s mission is to [encourage you to be the greatest version of yourself, and if someone acknowledges error, apologizes, and says, ‘Hey, I want to work on being the best version of myself,’ how can you turn your back?”
Others, on the other hand, are less forgiving.
Numerous users on TikTok demanded that the teen queen be disqualified from the Miss Teen USA pageant.
Meanwhile, Hannah Merritt, an African American model who finished third runner-up in Miss Teen Washington, expressed “disappointment” at the scenario.
“As an African American woman who has walked that platform four times and carries the weight of so many little girls on her shoulders, knowing that Kate… won is just extremely exhausting,” she told KIRO 7.
