Kansas pageant winner calls tweets over Coke ad a mistake. [View all]

[RandySF]

On Monday, Knowles deleted the Coke-related tweets from her Twitter page. She also changed her profile picture and removed the “Miss Kansas” reference. She later posted a statement on her Facebook page:

“I wanted to take a moment to sincerely apologize to anyone that may have been offended by my words. I in no way meant to hurt anyone’s feelings and humbly ask that you please accept my deepest apology,” she wrote.

“Social media has made it even easier to broadcast your opinions faster than you have time to say them out loud. I accept my fault in this action but also ask others to grant me the freedom of that mistake,” she said. “As Ghandi once said, ‘Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.’ ”

Knowles could not be reached for comment Monday.

“I ask that during this time you please respect my privacy,” she wrote. “I am fully aware of the articles, tweets, and Facebook posts and have been monitoring them closely but at this time I feel this should be my only response.”

Knowles’ earlier tweets remained on the Public Shaming blog and continued to be circulated online Monday, prompting one tweeter to post, “Who knew #MissKansas was such a racist?”

Knowles has no affiliation with the Miss Kansas organization in Pratt, the official state preliminary for the Miss America pageant. Officials with the Miss Kansas organization did not return calls or e-mails for comment.

But Monday afternoon, the group posted on its Twitter and Facebook pages: “Miss Kansas 2013 (An Official Miss America State Preliminary) is the beautiful Theresa Marie Vail.”

http://www.kansas.com/2014/02/03/3265830/kansas-pageant-winner-calls-tweets.html#storylink=cpy