Kira admits she was involved in hazing during her time at Hofstra University, but she denies it's the reason she was kicked out of her sorority in 2013.
- Sep 24, 2014
AceShowbiz - Newly appointed Miss America Kira Kazantsev has responded to the recent allegations which claimed she was kicked out of her sorority after hazing pledges. During her appearance on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, September 23, Kira said the allegations which were first reported on Monday by Jezebel were "just not true. I'm incredibly hurt that someone has said these things."
However, Kira admitted she was involved in hazing during her time at Hofstra University. "I was involved with some of those activities while I was at Hofstra and I came in as an impressionable freshman," she shared, "Everybody wants to be a part of something and at the time, unfortunately, that was just the culture of the university. I was hazed and I was kind of brought up through the organization thinking that that's appropriate behavior when clearly, I'm two years removed from the organization today and I understand, that that's just not true."
Kira said hazing tasks, which she had participated, included "a few sleepless nights crafting - things that were like menial tasks."
When asked about the reason she was asked to leave the Alpha Phi sorority in April 2013, Kira said, "I was asked by a New Member Educator when I was a senior to reach out to the alumni base to have an event of sorts. In the email I basically made a joke and that was taken out of context and forwarded to the national office."
Kira then explained what the joke was, "That we would make the evening scary for the pledges when that never came to fruition and none of those things that I've been accused of ever happened or were ever intended to happen."
She said of the allegations, "All I can do is sit here and be honest and share that, yes, I was involved, under the broad definition of hazing at some point, but never ever in a million years what [the Jezebel report] is claiming to hold."
