ESPN issued a public apology on Tuesday for announcer Brent Musburger’s on-air gushing during the BCS championship game over Katherine Webb, the 2012 Miss Alabama and girlfriend of University of Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron. But in true pageantry fashion, Webb deflected the attention back to the Crimson Tide’s big win on Monday against Notre Dame.
“I am honestly really shocked that it took off like that,” Webb told Matt Lauer on the "Today" show. “I think that we need to draw back our attention to who the real winners are and that’s the Alabama football team.”
Webb’s popularity took off during the BCS championship game when Musburger’s on-air fawning led to an onslaught of Twitter followers for the beauty queen. During the broadcast, Musburger commented on Webb's looks as the camera repeatedly panned to her location in the stands. “Wow, I’m telling you quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women,” he said. Webb, however, had no idea about her new-found fame as her phone died before the game started, she said.
“During the game, a few of my friends that were sitting beside me turned around and said ‘Oh my gosh, Katherine, look what’s on the Internet’ and it was a screenshot me and A.J.’s mom Dee Dee Bonner,” Webb told Lauer.
ESPN apologized on Tuesday, but she said people need to cut Musburger some slack.
"I think the media has been unfair to him," she said. "The fact that he said we were beautiful and gorgeous, I don't see why any woman wouldn't be flattered by that."
As of Wednesday morning, Webb had garnered over 224,000 Twitter followers. Before the game, she only had a few hundred Twitter fans.
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