A Darwin teen model who has been disqualified from a 'Grid Girls' competition over a racist post on her Facebook page says she did not realise her comments would be such a big deal.
Ellen Musk, 19, was an entrant in the Finke Desert Race Grid Girls contest and was hoping to be selected as one of 10 winners who would go on to become voluntary ambassadors for the race.
But a status update on her Facebook profile last Thursday morning has led to her disqualification.
"All I can hear is very absurd c--ns yelling angrily from downstairs and I'm on level 22 WTF?" she posted.
The comment prompted many angry responses from friends, to which Ms Musk replied: "Ok, is n--ga a better word?"
Ms Musk insists she meant no harm.
"I posted a status on Facebook… just thinking it's Facebook, it's just my friends, it's nothing that’s going to end up in the news, nothing that anybody's going to have a big crack about," she told ninemsn.
"I don't have anything against indigenous people whatsoever. I didn't mean to offend anybody but obviously I have."
She had not heard from the organisers of the Grid Girl competition but believed they had jumped to conclusions.
"I just want them to hear my side of the story so they can understand I don't have a problem with Aboriginal people whatsoever," she said.
But it was too late for the Finke Desert Race coordinators, who released a statement earlier today confirming Ms Musk's entry had been dismissed.
"The Finke Desert Race and the Finke Grid Girls do not condone or tolerate any 'racist' comments or attitudes. Being a Grid Girl is essentially being an ambassador of our great race, and any such comments are unrepresentative of our values," the statement read.
The race is an off-road, two-day contest for bikes, cars, buggies and quads which starts in Alice Springs and ends 420km away in the Finke community of Aputula.
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