Miss Universe 2013: Miss Philippines Ariella Arida Apologises for Offensive Latina Statement

Miss Universe Philippines 2013 Ariella Arida has apologised for her offensive statement about Latinas in beauty pageants.

During an interview on the ABS-CBN News Channel's (ANC) Headstart, the 24-year-old was asked by show host Karen Davila to respond to comments about her communication skills in English.

"Latinas cannot even speak a sentence, right? I mean, a complete sentence in English... You know, I think, it's the Filipinos who are very critical about this," she said.

Adding on, she defended herself that she is doing her best to improve it and will work hard to express herself in conveying her message to the people.

Radio personality Mo Twister, whose real name is Mohan Gumatay, posted her interview clip on his Instagram account, with a note criticising Arida on her comment.

"I don't intend to bash on our Ms Philippines here but how the fuck is this not considered offensive toward Latinas?" he wrote, adding, "I mean, we ALWAYS get so sensitive when someone says anything about us Filipinos (see Dan Brown, Alec Baldwin, and every other time we screamed murder) yet our girl representing our country, in a legit interview regarding the competition, says Latinas can't put a sentence together in English. That would royally piss me off if I were of Latin descent. I'm pretty sure we would lose our minds if we heard an interview of a contestant saying "Filipinos can't string a sentence together" and our Senator/Congressman would persona non grata that bitch immediately."

"I'm also quite certain that a few of the Latina contestants can cook up a few intelligible lines in English that would leave Ariella here dizzy in her heels. Best of luck to her in the competition. Now back to my NBA Fantasy Team," he concluded.

Arida took to her Twitter account to respond to it: "OM sorry. I didn't mean to offend anyone from my last interview. I hope you guys can understand what I'm trying to say."