Earlier this month, Ellie won a title that means a lot to her: United International Elite Pre-Teen 2025, a pageant known for its focus on empathy and inclusion.

Starring Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, and Morgan Freeman, it follows cantankerous boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), who agrees to train Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank), a waitress and aspiring boxer.

A professor at New Jersey’s Kean University went on ABC’s morning program to weigh in on the controversy surrounding an ...