Beauty queen puts foot in mouth, reminds us of Mel Lastman

There’s an argument for having beauty pageant contestants warn young people about body image and eating disorders, but none seem forthcoming in the wake of beauty queen Tiffany Munro’s speech to Oshawa teenagers, during which she firmly planted her foot in her mouth. Speaking about her entry into the Miss Universe Canada competition, the 26-year-old told the kids that pageant organizers didn’t want contestants looking anorexic, “like some little African child with the ribs going on,” reports the Star.

Munro managed to offend a class of high-schoolers—an accomplishment in and of itself—as well as one of her fellow contestants, who survived a Rwandan refugee camp, and has apologized.

Making embarrassing statements about Africa isn’t just for young ladies, of course: Mel Lastman is widely remembered for having finished off Toronto’s chances at getting the 2008 Olympics by saying, “I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me” shortly before getting on the plane to Kenya.

So the next step for Ms. Munro is clear: run for mayor of Toronto.

• Miss Universe hopeful’s pageant gaffe draws jeers [Toronto Star]