A recent statement from Miss Universe Australia raised some eyebrows, but apparently, not those of Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach.
Monika Radulovic, who finished in the top 5 of the contest, made headlines when she said during a radio interview that the top 3 girls, Wurtzbach, Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez and Miss USA Olivia Jordan, “weren’t so nice.”
“They were okay. Can I just say that, I tried to be friends with everyone and I wanted to have a good time; those three were the only ones that weren’t that nice to the other girls,” Radulovic told Australia’s “The Grill Team.”
READ: Miss Australia: Teleprompter showed Pia Wurtzbach won Miss Universe
She explained that it was probably because they were under “a lot of pressure from their countries.”
The comment did not sit well with the fans of the top 3 finishers, with some of them bashing her on her social media accounts.
Wurtzbach on Tuesday made an appeal to her fellow Filipinos to stop shaming Radulovic.
“Mga kababayan, please stop attacking Monika on her social media. Or anybody for that matter. No to cyberbullying!” tweeted Wurtzbach, who said in her previous interviews that she would make the fight against cyberbullying as one of her advocacies.
READ: Negatibong komento ni Ms. Germany kontra Ms. Philippines, viral sa internet
“Nakakahiya na po. ‘Wag na po tayong mag-comment ng masama at pumatol. Hindi po natin ugali ‘yan. ‘Wag po tayo maging masamang halimbawa,” she added.
(it’s embarrasing. Let’s stop writing negative comments and fighting back. That is not like us. Let us not be bad examples.)
Meanwhile, Radulovic also took to her social media account to apologize for her statement.
“I always strive to be the best, kindest person I can be. But what I said yesterday came out completely the wrong way and I want to sincerely apologize for that,” Radulovic said on Instagram.
“I didn’t mean they weren’t nice girls, just that they were very focused on what they were doing. I just didn’t get a chance to get to know them as much as you would have liked, and that is all that that I meant by it. I’m truly sorry if I’ve offended or upset anyone, that is the last thing I’d ever want to do. I will choose my words much more carefully from now on,” she added. IDL