Miss Alabama Sara Milliken Responds to Trolls Who Criticized Her Plus-Sized Appearance

After facing backlash from trolls who labeled her as “embarrassing” and “unhealthy,” the 23-year-old responded to the criticism regarding her looks and recent title.

MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — An Atmore woman’s years-long wish to become a pageant winner finally came true over Memorial Day weekend.

But the social media criticism that followed her crowning was swift and harsh.

Sara Milliken’s quest to be named Miss Alabama in the National American Miss pageant began eight years ago.

That’s when event organizers mailed letters seeking interested participants.

Milliken answered that appeal, known as an “open call.”

She competed twice for the honor but did not place.

Milliken’s third outing, in 2024, proved to be the charm.

Excitement built for the 23-year-old as she made the top ten, was selected as a top five finalist and ultimately won the state-level competition.

Persistence paid off for the self-described “plus-size” participant.

“No matter what your body looks like, no matter where you come from, you can do anything you set your mind to,” Milliken said in a recent WKRG interview.

The National American Miss pageant aims to foster a “positive self-image by enhancing the natural beauty within,” its website states.

Participants share their hopes and dreams in a one-on-one interview, meet with a selection panel, introduce themselves on stage to an audience, prepare a resume, and volunteer in their community, according to the site.

News 5 Digital Reporter Summer Poole invited Milliken to WKRG-TV’s studio Friday to learn more about her.

Afterward, Poole posted a behind-the-scenes photo of the visit on her Facebook page, and WKRG’s Facebook page shared it, along with a post that linked to her story on Milliken.

The station received over 2,000 comments on that post seen by 1 million people, according to Facebook Insights.

Newsroom staff members noticed many notes of congratulations, often referencing Milliken’s appearance.

“To know is to love her,” Tracie Stephens-Brooks wrote. “This young lady has a heart of gold and will give anyone in need a helping hand. A beautiful obese diva with style, sass and a lot of class.”

“So proud of her!” Samantha Thrash Duff wrote. “We watched her all weekend and prayed hard that she would come home with that title! She is an amazing, sweet young woman and is going to do great things!”

“Great to finally not see some 100lb, blonde hair blue eyes who wants world peace win!” David Junior wrote. “Congrats to Alabama and this Queen!”

But overall, reactions were mixed.

Many people criticized the National American Miss pageant’s decision to crown Milliken as Miss Alabama.

“Calling her beautiful is fine and good that’s all in the eye of the beholder,” Scott Eckles wrote. “But let’s be honest with ourselves.. she’s extremely unhealthy and this is a slap in the face to the young girls who have worked hard and maintained a diet to actually be a beauty queen.

“This is an embarrassment to the state of Alabama.”

WKRG received hundreds of comments that weren’t so measured — insulting Milliken and calling her disrespectful names.

“This should have been (M)iss Jack in the Box winner,” John Mason wrote.

“I thought it was a beauty pageant,” Blaine Tom Mieroughts wrote.

“Is that actually considered attractive in Alabama?” Randy Hicks wrote.

Harsh comments weren’t just directed toward Milliken; Poole’s Facebook direct-messages inbox and her page’s public comments section also filled up with mean-spirited remarks.

Critics accused Poole of being a Satanist for supposedly inverting beauty standards, they said she opened Alabama to mockery for merely reporting the pageant’s result, and they mocked Poole’s appearance.

Following the personal attacks on her, Poole limited comments on her post.

WKRG-TV made the same decision for its Facebook posts on Milliken.

Other posters then responded negatively.

“You deleted (and) censored comments, incredibly immature to go about deleting stuff,” Matthew Barner wrote. “This is America and there is free speech. It’s 2024, you can’t post a Mac truck and expect us not to comment lol.”

“A TV reporter hiding the truth and showing what suits her?” Zafar Khan wrote. “What’s new?”

“Womp womp if you’re stopping people from expressing themselves then you believe in censorship and shouldn’t have the job you have,” Hunter Parker wrote.

In reality, Poole and WKRG-TV took ethical actions to minimize harm — an accepted, recognized practice called comment moderation.

News organizations’ core mission is to “seek truth and report it” accurately and fairly, according to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

One key to that mission is to “boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience,” the code states. “Seek sources whose voices we seldom hear.”

Further, “Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings deserving of respect.”

While another goal is to “support the open and civil exchange of views, even views they find repugnant,” SPJ distinguishes between reporting on diverse issues and allowing uncivil comments and discord in the comments section.

WKRG-TV rarely limits discussion in the comments section of social media posts.

The station exercised that option after comments about this story strayed from spirited discussion and became personal attacks.

“We report daily on a wide variety of subjects and ideas,” said WKRG-TV News Director Gene Kirkconnell. “We invite into that process people with a variety of viewpoints. We listen and interact respectfully with them. So, as folks participate in that dialogue, we simply ask that they do the same.”

Milliken said the harsh comments initially bothered her, but she was able to move past them.

“I’ll be honest, it got to me for about five minutes,” she said.

Then, something incredible happened.

People from Massachusetts, Maine, Canada, and California — “truly all across the country” — found and followed her Facebook and Instagram profiles, according to Milliken.

The potential setback suddenly became “the biggest blessing” as she gained 1,500 and 1,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram, respectively, overnight, she said.

Now, people are coming forward with offers to sponsor Milliken for NAM’s national pageant, to be held Thanksgiving week in Orlando.

Those offers include a dress, earrings, and thousands of dollars worth of products to boost her presentation, she said.

Milliken may take the harsh reaction to her state victory in stride, but she said that’s not the case for other victims of cyberbullying.

And she wants those who attacked her appearance to understand something.

“Their words can hurt,” Milliken said. “Even if it is online. Even something that you type over a screen can have a lasting impression on people.”

That lasting impression, specifically, can include self-harm.

“The incidences of both cyberbullying and adolescent suicide are rising in the United States,” the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law stated in a February 2023 publication.

In fact, “14.9 percent of adolescents have been cyberbullied, and 13.6 percent of adolescents have made a serious suicide attempt,” based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the publication notes.

“Even though I’m not at that point, it can lead people to do some very dark things to themselves,” Milliken said.

Educating people about the impact of their words is one way to turn a negative into a positive, she said.

“I’ve always wanted to spread positivity, and this kind of put me in a position to do exactly that,” Milliken said.

via: WKRG

The post Miss Alabama Sara Milliken Responds to Trolls Who Criticized Her Plus-Sized Appearance appeared first on LOVEBSCOTT.