Bianca Schoombee may already be disqualified from entering Miss SA
Hell hath no fury like a Twitter community scorned: Bianca Schoombee, a hopeful applicant for the Miss SA 2020 competition, has been on the receiving end of vociferous criticism on Wednesday after offensive Tweets from her young teenage years have come back to bite her on the backside.
Schoombee is also accused of using racist terms while in school, but that claim has not been verified.
Who is Bianca Schoombee, and will she be disqualified from Miss SA 2020?
The controversial posts made by her account poked fun at body positivity and shared some distasteful jokes. However, her use of racist tropes caused the most uproar. The 20-year-old said she was ‘profusely apologetic’ for the content, and has since deleted her page.
Her apology – which made reference to people ‘digging up’ her old Tweets – seems to have done very little to endear her to an outraged public. And it would also appear like the organisers of the Miss SA competition are unimpressed with her behaviour, indirectly referencing the situation earlier today.
Miss SA statement indirectly references ‘racist’ Tweets.
Officials released a statement on Wednesday, explaining that all selected semi-finalists are subjected to background checks and proper vetting. This would usually take take after 31 May, when entry to the competition closes. Miss SA are adamant that they won’t stand for any “unsavoury or unethical incidents”, meaning that Bianca Schoombee’s indiscretions have all but ended her journey before it even began:
“Entries for this year’s competition opened on May 11 and close on May 31, 2020, at midnight. The organisers have not yet announced its panel of judges nor evaluated any of the entries received. We only assess entrants once the deadline for submissions has closed.”
“Once we have a selection of potential semi-finalists we run the necessary background checks. There is good governance in place to ensure that Miss South Africa finalists and semi-finalists align with our values.”
“Our rules state that any semi-finalist or finalist may not have been involved in any unsavoury or unethical incidents or conduct that may bring the organisers or the Miss South Africa pageant into disrepute. Unsavoury or unethical conduct includes, but is not limited to, bribery, racism, sexism, slander or libel.”
Miss SA statement, indirectly mentioning the Bianca Schoombee fiasco
STATEMENT: The Miss South Africa 2020 campaign.https://t.co/EJnpyKWJ4B
— Miss South Africa (@Official_MissSA) May 20, 2020
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