This Article is From May 19, 2010

New Miss USA in stripper scandal

New York:
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Just hours after she won the crown and was declared the new Miss USA, instead of her pageant photos, another batch had the internet abuzz.

That of another contest that Rima Fakih won in 2007 - the "stripper 101" contest that was sponsored by a Detroit based radio show.

On Sunday, 24 year old Rima, an immigrant of Lebanese descent, won the coveted Miss USA contest and the praise of Arab-American groups hailing her win as a sign of the diversity of their culture and their role in American society.

"Rima has always spoken about her origins and she mentioned many times how proud she is to be from South Lebanon originally besides being American, and representing America," Rima's sister Rana Fakih.

But the risqué photographs of Rima doing a pole dance cast a pall over the celebrations.

For the longest time, American beauty pageants were won by the all American girl next door - a light skinned blonde with blue eyes.

Rima may be the first Arab American to win the crown, but she is not the first to be involved in a post-win scandal.

The irony is that at all times of the so-called stripper contest she was involved in, she was more clothed than she was in various stages of America's most prestigious beauty contest, where at one point contestants even wear lingerie and suggestively pose.

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