Miss USA Sarah Rose Summers is in Thailand, mocking beauty queens’ English

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Just yesterday, I was watching that stupid Melania Trump interview and I thought to myself “I would actually find Melania’s accent charming if she wasn’t such a racist Deplorable.” We’re a nation of immigrants and that means a lot of people have accents, and a lot of people won’t speak perfect English. That’s an “issue” that a lot of people fight about here in America. But it takes a particular kind of Ugly American to GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY and expect everyone you meet to speak English, and to mock them if they don’t. Which is what happened with the reigning Miss USA, Sarah Rose Summers. Summers is in Thailand for the Miss Universe pageant, and she ended up hanging out with Miss Colombia (Valeria Morales) and Miss Australia (Francesca Hung), and they all decided to go on Instagram Live to mock Miss Vietnam (H’Hen Nie) and Miss Cambodia (Rern Sinat) for their English language struggles.

Summers, 24, was captured on video discussing Miss Cambodia Rern Sinat and Miss Vietnam H’Hen Nie. In the footage, which was reportedly part of an Instagram Live video shared on Miss Colombia Valeria Morales’ account, Summers appears to mock Miss Vietnam’s English-speaking skills.

“She’s so cute and she pretends to know so much English and then you ask her a question after having a whole conversation with her and she goes — ” Summers says, nodding and smiling in a way that seemed to mimic H’Hen before laughing. “She’s adorable.”

When Morales asks her, “How?” Summers proceeds to repeat her imitation of H’Hen’s smile.

Summers, Morales and Miss Australia Francesca Hung also spoke about Miss Cambodia Rern Sinat in the video.

“Miss Cambodia is here and doesn’t speak any English,” Summers said, “and not a single person here speaks her language. Can you imagine? Francesca said that it would be very isolating and I think yes, and just confusing all the time.”

[From People]

I’m including the video below, because nothing ever gets deleted off the internet. Having watched it, I’ll say this… I would count this as a racist microaggression more than these women actively Mean Girling the hell out of Asian beauty queens. It’s obvious that Sarah Rose is really ignorant and parochial, and it’s like it never would have occurred to her that a Cambodian beauty queen or a Vietnamese beauty queen would even have a need to speak English. The fact that she’s sitting in Thailand – NOT SPEAKING THAI – and complaining about the women who don’t speak English just shows that she perfectly fits the stereotype of the ugly American abroad. Sarah Rose did post this apology on her Instagram:

@MissUniverse is an opportunity for women from around the world to learn about each other’s cultures, life experiences, and views. We all come from different backgrounds and can grow alongside one another.

In a moment where I intended to admire the courage of a few of my sisters, I said something that I now realize can be perceived as not respectful, and I apologize. My life, friendships, and career revolve around me being a compassionate and empathetic woman. I would never intend to hurt another. I am grateful for opportunities to speak with Nat, Miss Cambodia, and H’Hen, Miss Vietnam, directly about this experience. These are the moments that matter most to me.

[From Instagram]

“I said something that I now realize can be perceived as not respectful.” Try again, Becky. How about “Lordy, I sounded like an ignorant fool and I apologize for acting like the world should revolve around English-speaking blonde bitches?”

Photos courtesy of WENN, Instagram.

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77 Responses to “Miss USA Sarah Rose Summers is in Thailand, mocking beauty queens’ English”

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  1. lassie says:

    Almost like this is a CV for Faux News.

  2. Wilma says:

    Dude, you did not intend to admire the courage of these other contestants. You intended to mock them, because that’s all you did. Nothing you did could be construed as admiring their courage.

    • Esmom says:

      Exactly. What a grade A bitch, scrambling to do damage control now that she’s been called out.

      • Wiglet Watcher says:

        She should step down or be disqualified. I’m not sure how the system works, but she is a poor representation.

        The “now realize” bit is the worst phrasing.

    • Otaku fairy... says:

      Yep. Thoughtless and vapid at best, actively trying to mock at worst.

  3. Maya says:

    Americans always think they invented and owns the English language.

    Do they even realise that English is one of the youngest languages in the world? That it is a language put together from other older languages?

    • Rapunzel says:

      Lol…. I teach English and I’m always telling my students that it’s a bastard language , the illegitimate child of almost every other language that came before .

      And there’s no way that she wasn’t meaning to be awful here. She was basically calling the other girls stupid for not understanding English, like she couldn’t believe anybody with intelligence wouldn’t speak it.

      • Mabs A'Mabbin says:

        Precisely Rap… people like this are so embarrassing. English didn’t simply fall from the rockets’ red glare and bombs bursting in air. There was no lunar landing, climate change is a hoax, and everyone must speak ‘Amurican’ cuz hell yeah man!

    • Veronica S. says:

      Look here, it’s only a mixture of *glances at notes on hand* old German and Normandy French and Latin and Old Norse and Greek and – *rambles on incoherently*

    • megs283 says:

      ehh let’s not paint all Americans with the same brush 🙁

    • Ms says:

      I used to live abroad while my spouse was in the military. One of my friends at the time was very offended the permanent residents there didn’t speak English as well as they spoke their native language, since there were so many military people there. She has no problem saying everyone in the US should speak English. 🙄 Never occurred to her that this was a double standard.

  4. Frida_K says:

    This is so obnoxious and offensive.

    I cannot imagine what it would be like to only speak one language and to be so myopic. She is condescending, narrow, ignorant, and proud of her stupidity. That is not beautiful at all.

    I wonder if she is proud to be a flawless representative of what is, sickeningly, tRump’s America. I’ll bet she is quite proud of her image. Maybe she does not like so much to be called out for being a basic Becky and mean girl, but she’ll take the benefits of her position without thinking twice.

    No me gusta.

  5. LORENA says:

    This is who we have representing our country -_- its very telling about the state of America

    • Erinn says:

      I love many of the American Celebitches… but I think of you guys as exceptions for the most part. I never really understood the ‘ugly American’ thing and always thought really highly of America in general growing up, being your neighbor. But as soon as I worked in a call center in a satellite office of a Florida based company – it’s like holy crap. Those of you who are lovely are very very lovely. But the ones that are not are absolute terrors. I had one customer for website modifications (we were a small team and the only office who worked on these sites) who called in and actually told us she was thinking of us when there was a shooting in Ontario. She said she knew how awful it was, and hoped that we didn’t have any family members involved. It was the sweetest thing. But there were so many cruel, vindictive bullies that we had to deal with, it was just ridiculous. And the creepy dudes trying to pick me up, and the ones that were shocked that I did the ‘same’ (actually much better) job that the guys did. Then you add in the mess that the government is in and you can see why a lot of people have a negative view of American’s as a whole.

      I don’t know how it’s going to get better, but something has to change. I’m rooting for you, America, but people like those in the government and women like this are making it harder than it should be to do so.

      • Grant says:

        Yes, this is inexcusable behavior and it definitely perpetuates an awful stereotype about Americans. That being said, as someone who has studied abroad, I’ve noticed plenty of unsavory things about people from many different countries. My dad worked in oil and we lived in Monaco for three years when I was growing up. We HATED it. The Europeans who lived there were virtually all extremely wealthy, pretentious, wildly racist (the things that they would say about African migrants and middle easterners was appalling), and just generally rude. I definitely don’t let that temper my perception of all French folks (most of those who lived in Monaco that we interacted with were French). The US is a nation with over 300 million people, so there are always going to be people who make the rest of us face palm.

  6. minx says:

    She has mean eyes.

  7. Original T.C. says:

    How old is this girl, she seems like a 16year old meangirl! It didn’t appear to be a random conversation, she started it and kept it going. No this wasn’t just ignorance, she was purposefully being a jerk and using fake sympathy. The other two are no better by going along with her even though one tried to correct her.

  8. Valois says:

    Basic Becky probably speaks no other language aside from English (or well, she probably says she has basic communication skills in French and Spanish cause she can say bonjour and hola) yet has the audacity to mock other people who have mastered something she’s incapable of – communicative skills in a foreign language!?

  9. Ai says:

    Condescending AF and def. micro aggression aimed at the two Asian ladies. In America there is this light racism against Asian regarding our English ability. We get unnecessary commentary on our English all the time – even when it’s not appropriate. As a Thai American woman with English as my native language – to this day I still get comments like: ‘oh wow your English is perfect/incredible – you don’t have an accent!’ Or my older sister who has Thai as her native language, speaks fluent English but with an accent still gets comments for her to ‘learn English’.

    • Original T.C. says:

      Your sister should reply “Ahhh, don’t be jealous because I can read, speak, dream and do math in two different languages! It’s never too late to become less ignorant and learn a language besides your native one!” *big smile* LOL!!!!

    • Tiffany :) says:

      One day in a work setting, I overheard a conversation:

      Person 1: “This is in Chinese, do you think V would be able to read it?”

      Person 2 (who is of Asian heritage): “…V is Japanese”

      Person 1: “But do you think she’d be able to read Chinese?”

      Person 2: …. (crickets) ….

      There was so much wrong with the conversation.

      • Desolee says:

        Japanese people can read some Chinese in their way (but they might decipher the wrong meaning) because they use some same/similar characters as traditional Chinese. Taiwan and Hong Kong still use traditional characters but china uses simplified since the communists created that to increase literacy. People who can read traditional can sometimes read simplified
        (And vice versa it’s a skill people are proud to learn either way

    • Miss M says:

      @AI: I completely agree with you. The micro aggression towars two Asian contestants was so obvious. I have colleagues and friends from various Countries in Asia who are so self-concious about speaking English because of people like Miss USA’s attitude…
      Miss Brazil (that Miss Colombia called out for not speaking English either) is of European and Native Brazilian (indigenous) descent.
      Let’s all pretend Portuguese is so different from Spanish, Miss Colombia…

    • maddie says:

      as diet prada said: it’s normalized xenophobia

      that sucks that people comment on your and your sister’s english. i also grew up in a multi-lingual home (speaking english, thai, and french), but no one has ever commented about my english – at least not to my face. that’s probably because I grew up in LA where loads of people speak more than one language and that i somewhat look ethnically ambiguous. my cousin who looks asian has gotten comments about his english – ironically, he only speaks english.

  10. Piper says:

    She’s pretty disgraceful rep for America… or is she? Bye, Becky.

  11. Nev says:

    One of your best most succinct posts. Ever.

  12. HK9 says:

    Why do people who only speak one language feel they can mock others who know several? I guess that’s because most Basic Becky’s don’t actually know they’re, well…basic.

  13. Jerusha says:

    I know who she voted for. No doubts, whatsoever. But I bet she speaks fluent Thai and Cambodian, right?
    I am always astonished and a bit shamed at the number of people in far flung countries who do speak English, and I mean ordinary people, not ones whose professions require it. I’m certain the vast majority of Americans are monolingual. Arrogance, dumbness, laziness? Beats me.
    Way to go, Miss Summers. You accurately represented the America of today.

  14. saltandpepper says:

    It’s a pity she can only speak shit. Buh-bye!

  15. JanetFerber says:

    SHe seems like a prime candidate for Trump’s new Chief of Staff. Her qualifications!

  16. OSTONE says:

    Perfect representation of today’s America! I speak Spanish and English perfectly, live in the South and whenever I speak Spanish in public I get dirty looks. Nobody has had the caucacity to tell me to speak English to my face.. yet.

  17. Veronica S. says:

    The comment about Miss Cambodia could probably slide by itself because you’re talking about how isolating it is not to share a language, but everything else is just embarrassingly ignorant. Like, it’s a Miss UNIVERSE pageant. Of course everybody isn’t going to speak English! Half the people there probably live in countries where they don’t even need it. I can’t imagine she speaks more than one language.

    It just drives me up a wall because I work retail in an upscale mall, and we get customers all the time who aren’t fluent in English. But it’s not something we’d ever mock or insult because at the end of the day, they’re doing their best – and we’re technically the ones with the handicap because most of us only speak English.

    • Spargel says:

      *Technically* but not really–English being the global lingua franca so that people from Asia, Africa, Europe, etc have to know some English to function when they travel abroad (e.g. the hotelier in Lisbon will speak English to the Thai tourist so they can connect; the French and Norwegian business people will hold their meeting in English). Having excellent English skills is a type of global privilege that we don’t really grasp until we’ve left the Anglosphere and discovered how everyone in Prague or Berlin or Tokyo or Lima switches into OUR language to communicate–the one we speak without effort and have linguistic advantage re. nuance, irony, etc. Obviously people do it because it’s practical now after centuries of British expansion, but I also feel like it’s a colonial act whenever I have to switch to English in a non-English-speaking land (I’m fluent in French, have intermediate German and Spanish, and basic Czech–and have studied another 9 languages–and I still feel like I’m being heckin’ Ugly American asking a Slovenian server a question in English in a restaurant because I ran out of my limited vocab in the host country’s language).

  18. Elisa says:

    It’s moments like these when I’m grateful for Social Media where ignorant idiots like her are called out for their sh** + her idiotic video will forever stay online and this might change her ignorant attitude. One can hope, sigh…

  19. Scal says:

    Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree since her mom basically said oh it’s not so bad.

    Summers’ mom, Desiree, who defended her daughter, saying, “She in no way meant any harm. she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body.” She said that in imitating Miss Vietnam Summers “was just recreating how Miss Vietnam acts whence doesn’t understand what someone is saying. She wasn’t trying to mock her.”

    • holly hobby says:

      What state does this idiot represent? I bet they are trumpsters. Might as well break out that moldy MAGAt hat now.

      • maddie says:

        i think she’s from nebraska. she’s probably only been around mono-lingual people all her life. the only time i ever felt self-conscious about being able to speak a language other than english was when I was in the midwest.

    • Dana marie says:

      I was going to say the same about her mother’s comment. It’s obvious she learned her ignorant behavior from her mother. I feel embarrassed that she is representing my country . Miss USA’s comments are shallow, mean-spirited and completely unnecessary. Not all American girls act like this. It’s a pitty when someone selected to represent their country doesn’t hold high standards of respect for others and decides to broadcast it all over social media! AND It wasn’t even leaked it was done on purpose!! Talk about showing true colors. Let’s see how she finishes in the competition … I m sure Karma will play a role I hope.

  20. Mellie says:

    She just mean-girled herself out of the top 10 in the pageant, or at least I hope so if karma is real.

  21. garbannzo says:

    Fox News has found a new anchor.

  22. megs283 says:

    GAH. HOW MANY LANGUAGES DO YOU SPEAK, MISS ROSE.

    I only speak English and the BAREST of French, and at least I have the good sense to be embarrassed by that.

    What a fool. Ugly on the inside.

  23. Cee says:

    I’m sorry if I offend any american on Celebitchy, but this is what your average american tourist looks like abroad. They’re entitled and culturally ignorant. It gets ridiculous when they demand every one speak perfect american English while not even trying to learn local words like “hello”, “please”, “thank you”, etc.

    The other two “beauty” queens should also be ashamed of themselves.

    • Lady D says:

      I live in British Columbia and I’ve spent many years in the tourism industry. I have met or dealt with thousands of Americans over the years, literally thousands. In all those years, I’ve had one bad run-in with an American. It might be because we speak the same language, but I think it’s more likely that most of them are decent people, and it’s the few loud mouthed idiots that give everyone a bad name.

    • Yo soy says:

      Sorry to generalize, but yeah, I agree. I live in Spain and there are a lot of American tourists here who do not even try to learn basic Spanish. And they loudly demand waiters, cashiers, etc to speak to them in English.

      • SK says:

        That’s true, I’ve spent the last three years travelling full time for work and have encountered MANY American tourists like this. On the flip side, I do recall meeting an absolutely lovely mother and daughter from Texas who were not at all like this and were unfailingly polite to everyone and very sweet. They had been spat on by waiters in cafes in Paris and treated appallingly. All for being American. Bad behaviour can work in many directions…

      • Spargel says:

        “They had been spat on by waiters in cafes in Paris”

        I’d take that one with a grain of salt.

    • BANANIE says:

      Lady D- totally. I bet there are plenty of Americans that travel and act respectfully, but people don’t even pick up on them being American because they’re just doing their own thing.

      Also, I feel like when people criticize Americans like this they act (or imply) that everyone from their country is a delight when they travel abroad. I’m not saying the numbers are anywhere near close, but still. No one is perfect.

      • Cee says:

        Of course not everyone is a delight. But I’ve traveled extensively and I’ve been in contact with a lot of americans in Buenos Aires and they vast majority expects everyone to speak flawless american english while not even trying to learn basic spanish.
        This is a trait most of us see in american tourists. I’ve also encountered lovely americans, but the loud, rude ones outnumber them. Perhaps it is because they’re used to everything being catered to them and that people usually learn English in order to work and live in the US.

    • minx says:

      I don’t disagree. My husband and I travelled to Europe several times before we had kids and we tried to be polite and appreciative of people. Nearly everyone we met was kind and helpful.

    • Veronica S. says:

      Which is a really sad shift if it that’s true because I remember back in the 90s that Americans were actually fairly positively regarded as tourists because we were considered generous and more willing to try out different languages, even if we sucked at it. (We were considered pretty loud, though.) Nationalism doing it’s thing, I guess.

      • SK says:

        Ahhhhh see the generosity thing is a double-edged sword. In a lot of places, American tourists are cursed by other tourists because paying massively overinflated prices (for the local economy) creates an expectation that all foreigners are stupid and rich and will pay anything. They actually advise you in guidebooks not to overpay as there are all sorts of consequences – not just for the future tourists, but for the way the economy works – for instance, everyone switches to tourism-adjacent jobs because they are the most lucrative, and other traditional industries and important jobs die or are understaffed. It is important when travelling to understand the local economy and customs, and to pay in line with that – not assume that tipping is universal, that tipping in line with American customs is best, etc.

    • Adrien says:

      Abroad? Try going to Koreatown In LA. It is one of the most diverse area in the US yet you see mostly white tourists, meaning non Angeleno Americans demanding shop owners and their staff living there for several decades to speak in English.

    • Debby says:

      I live in Europe and have never heard of American tourists being obnoxious or rude. I run into American tourists all the time but I’ve never heard of one becoming angry or rude because someone didn’t speak English well enough. The only people I’ve heard of that are considered rude or belligerent are English or Russian but that’s not from my personal experience. I also think that has more to do with excessive drinking than being a rude people.

  24. Canber says:

    Miss USA is an Ugly American. And I bet the bitch is monolingual.

  25. holly hobby says:

    In the old days, before the pageant was trumpanzied (yes I know he sold it but that stigma will forever be attached to this), contestants didn’t have to know English to compete. One year Miss Thailand won with an interpreter communicating her comments. It was acceptable? But I guess since this was trumpanzied having an interpreter is no longer acceptable?

    Somehow I read that name as Summer Rose Summers and I thought what idiot parents came up with that? Sarah Rose Summers isn’t a better choice either. Talk about a tongue twister.

  26. My3cents says:

    Basic on the outside, ugly on the inside.

  27. me says:

    Why do English speakers assume everyone else in the world should know English? B*tch you’re in THAILAND! Just imagine without the invention of a camera phone on cell phones, we’d never get these precious moments. Now just imagine how much worse these people would be if they knew they weren’t being recorded.

  28. Shh says:

    LOL, file this under “typical American arrogance”.

  29. Adrien says:

    A lot of Americans think non English speakers talk about them when they speak in their mother’s language. They feel uneasy and think they are being mocked openly. A lot of non English speaking Youtubers try to appeal to international viewers by adding subtitles and try to speak in their darndest in English and when they do they get mocked for their accents, grammar. Some would find thier accents cute, adorable which is just as annoying.

  30. Adrien says:

    I see America did not send their best this year.

  31. Valerie says:

    LOL she doesn’t have a strong command of the English language herself. She wrote her own apology and it shows.

  32. Jag says:

    She should be removed because she doesn’t represent me.

    She also looks like a mix between Faith Hill and Carrie Underwood.

  33. Nuzzy says:

    Barely-lingual woman mocks bi-lingual woman…

    • BlueNailsBetty says:

      Why is there no “like” button on this site? I need to like this comment about 100 times!

  34. maddie says:

    she’s gross. but i do have to wonder what they were thinking saying these things on instalive. bet she’s hating on colombia for posting it. and seriously, colombia calling out brazil for not speaking english? 🙄 and australia is half-asian, but she’s making fun of the other asian contestants?

    if they think it’s so isolating to not be able to speak english, well, you know they can go and befriend those ladies.