These Pictures of White Miss South Africa Wearing Gloves to Give Lunch to Black HIV-Positive Children Sparked Outrage
Was the move offensive or to protect the kids?
Recent photos of Miss South Africa at a children’s orphanage have sparked outrage among many people on Twitter.
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters shared a photo of herself wearing white medical gloves while serving sandwiches and soup with a group of Black children at the Maslow Soup Kitchen. In the photos, Nel-Peters posed with Black children, some of whom are HIV-positive.
Nel-Peters captioned the photo, 'Winter is for yummy soup, fresh bread rolls and cozy blankies supporting @themaslowhotel’s #wintersoupdrive'
Immediately upon seeing the images, many people wondered why she had gloves on while posing with children
Although some did defend the beauty queen by suggesting she wore the gloves for food safety reasons
One person even shared a different image of Nel-Peters without gloves
Eventually, the backlash made its way back to Miss South Africa, who posted a video explaining why she had gloves
In the video, the 22-year-old said she wore gloves to be as “hygienic as possible” and the photos were “completely misunderstood." She also apologized to anyone who was offended by the photos.
“The real story was that 300 kids got a proper warm lunch and they got that with or without gloves,” she added.
Yet, by that point, Twitter already ran with the story and the #MissSAChallenge was born
