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Lea Salonga's question 'dumbest in the universe?'


A CNN columnist was dismayed by the question of Filipino singer-actress and Tony award winner Lea Salonga for Miss Universe winner Leila Lopes of Angola during the pageant in Brazil last Tuesday. Salonga, one of the nine telecast judges in this year's pageant, asked "If you could change one of your physical characteristics, which one would it be and why?" Lopes, a 25-year-old, 5-foot-10 ½-inch knockout, answered, "Thank God I am very well satisfied with the way God created me, and I wouldn't change a thing. I consider myself a woman endowed with inner beauty." "I have acquired many wonderful principles from my family, and I plan to follow these through the rest of my life. And now I would like to give all of you a piece of advice: Respect one another," Lopes added. In her article titled, "Dumbest question in the universe," feminist columnist Jessica Ravitz wrote, "Maybe it's absurd to be dismayed that a question like this would be posed at a beauty pageant. In my worldview, the mere fact that pageants exist is absurd. And I'm not alone." Ravitz wrote, "Salonga tweeted that she did not write the question." Salonga said, "All our questions are pre-written and each judge is assigned one. Luck of the draw." If she had the chance to ask a question... One of Salonga's followers on Twitter — @sassy_dimple asked Salonga, "If you are given the chance to ask a question to any of the candidates, what would it be and why?" Salonga replied, "It would have been on feminism and pageants, gay marriage, or separation bet. church and state. Something like that." Admitting that she didn't watch the pageant, Ravitz said Salonga wrote to CNN saying, "As for the quality of the actual question, I don't have much of an opinion on that (truth be told, it's a standard beauty contest query... I would have asked about something more controversial...)." "At the end of the day, it wasn't so much the question asked but the manner in which it was answered," Salonga wrote. Posing the question to Donald Trump The "Miss Universe Organization" currently owns and runs the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA beauty contests. Based in New York in the United States, it is owned jointly by NBC Universal and Donald Trump. Ravitz said she tossed the controversial question to Trump: "Mr. Trump, if you could change one of your physical characteristics, which one would it be and why?" "I'm still waiting for his answer," Ravitz said. 2011 Miss Universe In the Miss Universe 2011 pageant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the country's bet — Miss Philippines Shamcey Supsup — was the third runner-up. Supsup ranked a place higher than Venus Raj, who was fourth runner-up in the 2010 pageant. Lopes of Angola, the first titleholder from her country, was crowned the 60th Miss Universe. Aside from Supsup, the others who are part of Lopes' entourage are:

  • Miss Ukraine Olesya Stefanko (1st runner-up);
  • Miss Brazil Priscila Machado (2nd runner-up); and
  • Miss China Luo Zilin (4th runner-up). Aside from Salonga, the other telecast judges were Helio Castroneves, Connie Chung, Isabeli Fontana, Vivica A. Fox, Adrienne Maloof-Nassif, Farouk Shami, Italo Zanzi, and Miss Universe 2003 Amelia Vega. Candidates from 89 countries and territories participated in the 2011 Miss Universe pageant, surpassing the previous record of 86 contestants in 2006. Lopes succeeded Miss Universe 2010 Ximena Navarette of Mexico. - HS, GMA News
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