Her election as Miss Italy 1996 caused a great scandal in Italy. It was
the first time that a woman of non-Italian ancestry was elected to
represent the country in an international beauty pageant (Miss Italy
Universe 1997), and many xenophobic Italian citizens saw it as a
wake-up call for Italy to close its borders to further immigration. Two
members of the judging panel were suspended for saying that a black
woman could not represent Italian beauty. Surprisingly with all the
scandal surrounding her election, Denny was selected as one of the 10
semifinalists in the 1997 Miss Universe contests.