Miss Philippines Universe, Ariella Arida, posted an apology in her Twitter account for those offended by her comment on Latinas not being able to complete an English sentence.
Two weeks before the coronation night and it's already a controversy-stricken journey for Miss Philippines, Ariella Arida, after the beauty queen made a comment in an interview that Latinas struggle in speaking the English language, just like her. Despite finishing a science degree in the University of the Philippines, it seems that Ariella Arida is having difficulty conveying her message in the English language, and this proved a problem when she spoke to ANC, a global channel in the Philippines before she flew to Moscow.
During the interview, a fan sent in a Twitter question implying that the Filipina beauty might not be able to converse well in English. "Is this our Miss Universe? I think she's having a hard time speaking in English," said the user. Ariella defended herself by saying that even if she is indeed blunt on language skills, "self-expression" will get her through. She added that only Filipinos are critical about it because "Latina's can't even speak a sentence."
"Especially, you know, Latinas cannot even speak a sentence, right? I mean, a complete sentence in English... You know, I think, it's the Filipinos who are very critical about this," the 24-year-old beauty said in the interview.
One Filipino DJ based in New York, Mo Twister, became offended and humiliated for his race about Ariella's comment. He made sure his thoughts were heard in by posting in his Instagram account.
"I don't intend to bash on our Ms Philippines here but how the [expletive] is this not considered offensive toward Latinas?"
Now that Ariella is in Moscow, the Philippines' representative for the pageant took to her Twitter account to retract her statements and to offer an apology to those offended by her comment.
"OM sorry. I didn't mean to offend anyone from my last interview. I hope you guys can understand what I'm trying to say," wrote Arida on October 22.
