Miss America 2019: Miss Michigan calls out Flint water crisis, goes viral

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - The winner of the Miss America 2019 competition wasn't the only contestant to make headlines Sunday night.

>> Miss America 2019: Who is Miss New York Nia Franklin, this year's winner?

Hours before Miss New York Nia Franklin was crowned, Miss Michigan Emily Sioma stunned the audience by using her introduction to share some not-so-subtle criticism for officials' response to Flint's water crisis.

>> PHOTOS: Miss New York Nia Franklin crowned Miss America 2019

"From the state with 84 percent of the U.S.'s fresh water but none for its residents to drink, I am Miss Michigan Emily Sioma," she said onstage.

>> Miss New York crowned Miss America 2019

Many Twitter users praised Sioma for her remark.

“from the state with 84 percent of the u.s. fresh water but none for its residents to drink, i am miss michigan emily sioma” — the new #missamerica2019 pageant did not come to play pic.twitter.com/H05eifix2e

— alex rees (@maybealexislost) September 10, 2018

Miss Michigan should automatically win #MissAmerica for starting with this! 😳 #Home #GoGirl pic.twitter.com/fdhRILMEtA

— Joel Schipper (@JSchipperWDRB) September 10, 2018

Miss Michigan dropping truth bombs 😳 #MissAmerica pic.twitter.com/tzfvtkoatl

— Carli Zielinski (@carlifarley) September 10, 2018

Miss Michigan using her 10 second intro to speak on flints water crisis instead of herself is truly using her platform for her state 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

— Jesse Keener (@swaggirljesse) September 10, 2018

>> PHOTOS: Miss America 2019

Much to the dismay of her new fans, Sioma, who graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in women's studies, was not among the top 15 finalists.

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Read more about Sioma here.