NAMES IN THE NEWS : Miss America Curbs Pious Rap
From Times Wire Services
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. —
Miss America Debbye Turner has agreed not to sing Christian rap songs to public school children, a pageant official says.
The decision follows a complaint Feb. 12 by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith in New York, pageant Director Leonard Horn said.
Jeffrey Sinensky, civil rights director for the league, said Wednesday that pageant officials satisfied questions his organization raised after seeing a newspaper article in Detroit about Turner’s appearance at a public school.
“She delivered an overt Christian message in terms of Jesus Christ being the truth, light and way,” Sinensky said.
Turner, a veterinary student from Missouri, has been a born-again Christian since she was 7.