Former Miss Teen USA Says She Felt Like ‘Animal in a Cage’ After Trump and His Inner Circle Made Googly Eyes at Her
Former “Catfish” co-host Kamie Crawford recalls the very moment she witnessed Donald Trump’s bigotry in action behind the scenes of the Miss Universe pageant.
Crawford, a former beauty queen, was crowned Miss Teen USA in 2010.
At the time, Trump was the owner of the Miss Universe Organization, giving him an all-access pass to the competition — a stake he held from 1996 to 2015. Her encounter with the businessman occurred shortly after she won the pageant, making her the first Black teen titleholder in over a decade.
The TV personality looked back at that time and her first exchange on the “Awf the Record” podcast. At one point in the interview, she spoke about witnessing Trump’s prejudices. In a newly resurfaced TikTok clip from the February 2025 episode, she recalled being warned about the real estate mogul’s cold demeanor ahead of their first meeting.
“I was told before I met him from a Black person at the organization, who is like my travel-manager person, that, you know, ‘You’re gonna meet Mr. Trump today; I’m just letting you know now he doesn’t like Black people.’”
Moreover, the staffer explained, “So if he doesn’t want to shake your hand, if he doesn’t really communicate with you, don’t take it personally. But if he does, maybe you’re just the type of Black that he likes, so good for you.’” Crawford was gobsmacked by the heads-up.
@awf.therecord Miss Teen USA Warned Trump Dislikes Black People! #awftherecord #podcast #couple #love ♬ original sound – AWFTheRecord.Talk
“This is like my first month on the job, and I was 17… Coming from where I come from, I was just like, ‘What?’ I was so confused.” She further recalled an incident at a Miss Universe rehearsal where she “witnessed him do something very racially charged, like, in my presence, and I tweeted about it before the 2016 election.”
Crawford saw Trump and his billionaire friends drooling over Miss Switzerland, who was “his type,” but then turned his back to the stage, acting out vomiting, when Miss Tanzania walked down the runway. “Doesn’t even watch her finish what she was doing… I was so stunned by this,” she recalled.
Yet, when her time to introduce herself arrived, Trump gushed, “‘Oh my God, oh my God, she’s so beautiful. Listen to her speak. Listen to her talk. Wow, she’s so smart.’” Crawford noted, “Then he starts tapping all his friends. … I literally felt like I was an animal in a cage because now I have all these grown men over me gawking at me.”
A common reaction to the anecdote states, “This is not surprising at all.” A second TikTok user remembered that “the justice department sued him in the 70s for racial profiling against black people he refused to rent apartments to.”
The 1973 case was settled, requiring Trump Management Inc. to implement fair housing practices. He faced a second lawsuit for the same racial renting bias in 1978. Elsewhere in the comments, his 2017-2021 administration’s token Black staffers resurfaced.
A commenter wrote, “Omarosa and Ben Carson are his type of black apparently.” A response added his viral supporters to the short list. It reads, “And diamond and silk.” Trump has long denied that he harbors discriminatory feelings toward Black people, despite his rhetoric and behaviors suggesting otherwise.
The following year after her win, Crawford was seen in several Getty Images with Vanessa Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and she attended “The Celebrity Apprentice” Season 4 Finale at Trump SoHo in New York City. But it’s clear she’s kept her distance from Trump and his family for years.
