The first woman of Indian descent to be crowned Miss America was on Monday busy brushing off the racist tweets that followed her victory.
“I was the first Indian Miss New York, and I’m so proud to be the first Indian Miss America,” Nina Davuluri said after she won.
A college graduate in brain behaviour and cognitive science, the 24-year-old was born in the United States after her father, a gynecologist, immigrated from India some 30 years ago.
Davuluri played up her Indian heritage throughout the pageant, during which she performed classic Indian dances to Bollywood movie scores.
But soon after being crowned she was attacked with racist taunts.
“Is Miss America even American?,” said one tweet.
“MissAmerica’s name does not sounds very American... just saying,” said another.
“This is Miss America... Not Miss Foreign Country,” another person tweeted.
But Davuluri appeared unfazed by the comments.
“I have to rise above that,” she said. “I always viewed myself as first and foremost American.”