For the first time in 52 years, the Scripps National Spelling Bee ended in a tie. Two Indian-American boys were both named champions of the prestigious U.S. title.
Ansun Sujoe, 13, and Sriram Hathwar, 14, will go down in history as the first two contestants in more than fifty years to beat the dictionary. There weren't enough words left on the competition's list for them to continue playing until there was one final winner. Both were thrilled by the win and happy to share the title with one another.
Though most people are proud of the two young achievers, their win has received controversial feedback on social media sites. Twitter was flooded with racist comments, most suggesting that the winners, and other contestants, were not American-looking enough.
This was the seventh consecutive year in which an Indian-American student won the spelling bee title, leading to hate comments concerning the frequency of Indian-Americans winning the competition.
On the Washington Post, one person commented, “Wait a minute!! Where is the diversity? Why are there not women or non-Asian minorities winning? Sounds racist to me…” Another comment made by a reader read, "How is it that foreigners who are new to America are able to win the spelling bee like this?”
One reader even went as far as saying, “First they took our beauty queen title then they take our bee. What’s next they take away our jobs.” This was in reference to Nina Davuluri who was crowned Miss America, and received similar hate messages across social media.
Here are a few of the tweeted remarks:
Unfortunately, the reality is racism is still very much prevalent in the world today with social media an accessible tool to share controversial comments. Tell us what do you think about these comments and if they hold any weight at all?
Featured Image: popsugar
All Tweet Screenshots: twitter
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