[5] Lee was born in San Francisco, California to a Chinese-American father and Taiwanese mother.

We’re making history right here, standing here as Asian-Americans.”[9][10] In a later interview with NPR's Michel Martin, Davulri described the moment as a, "very surreal, out-of-body experience, being there in the final two.

I was holding hands with Miss California, Crystal Lee, and we were both standing there at such a historic moment - two Asian-Americans who were going to take the title and to be a new symbol of hope and encouragement.

"[11] When Lee was asked to discuss the final moments in a later interview she stated that she: was focused on the announcement of results and didn’t think about us being Asian.

[6]There was a backlash of xenophobic and racist comments in social media against winner Nina Davuluri shortly after she was crowned Miss America 2014[12][13] related to the proximity of the event date to the nine-eleven anniversary and to anti-Indian sentiment.

[14] News agencies cited tweets that questioned why she was chosen over Miss Kansas, Theresa Vail, misidentified her as Muslim or Arab, and associated her with terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda.