Miss USA clarifies controversial healthcare comments

Miss USA Kara McCullough sparked controversy when she said that healthcare was a privilege. Photo / AP

After one of the more controversial Q&A segments in beauty-pageant history, newly crowned Miss USA Kára McCullough wants to clarify her remarks about healthcare.

During the pageant Sunday, McCullough was asked, "Do you think affordable healthcare for all US citizens is a right or a privilege, and why?" McCullough, a 25-year-old scientist who works at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, quickly set social media ablaze with her response: "I'm definitely going to say it's a privilege. As a government employee, I am granted healthcare. And I see firsthand that for one to have healthcare, you need to have jobs. So therefore, we need to continue to cultivate this environment that we're given the opportunities to have healthcare as well as jobs to all the American citizens worldwide."

WATCH: @MissUSA 2017 Kára McCullough speaks out following her victory the other night and social response: https://t.co/jGJ0mfxdGD pic.twitter.com/qn9Mdm8Hvz

— Good Morning America (@GMA) May 16, 2017

On Tuesday, McCullough made the media rounds, starting with Good Morning America. Co-anchor Michael Strahan noted that her comments - that healthcare is a privilege, not a right - "put a little heat" on her online. "Were you surprised by this reaction?" he asked.

"Not at all," McCullough said. "I believe that's what America is based on - like, having opinions and views."

She continued: "But I would like to just take this moment to truly just clarify. Because I am a woman, I'm going to own what I said. I am privileged to have healthcare and I do believe that it should be a right, and I hope and pray moving forward that healthcare is a right for all worldwide."

Strahan sympathised about the time constraints given to pageant contestants who have to discuss extremely complicated topics in 30 seconds on live television. "You're put on the spot to give an answer to that ... would you change anything that you said?" he asked.

"I would love to clarify," she said again. "I am privileged to have healthcare. I want people to see where I was coming from. Having a job, I have to look at healthcare like it is a privilege."

Strahan also noted that McCullough's answer to a question about feminism ("As a woman scientist in the government, I'd like to lately transpose the word feminism to equalism.") also "created a little firestorm" online. "You used the term equalism instead of feminism - and what do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Where I work at with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, equalism is more of a term of understanding that no matter your gender, you're still given the same accolades on your work," she explained. "So I believe the person does a good job, they should be, you know, credited for that in a sense."

"But I don't want anyone to look at that as if I'm not about women's rights. Because I am," McCullough continued. "We deserve a lot when it comes to opportunity in the workplace as well as just, like, leadership positions. And I've seen and witnessed firsthand the impact women have."