The affair exposed civil and religious tensions between the Christian and Muslim regions of Nigeria. The sentence also caused widespread outrage in the West, and a number of campaigns were launched to persuade the Nigerian government to overturn the sentence. Several contestants of the Miss World beauty contest, to be held in Nigeria in 2002, pulled out of the contest to protest against Amina Lawal's treatment. "The Oprah Winfrey Show" had a special report on Amina Lawal and encouraged viewers to send protest e-mails to the Nigerian Ambassador to the United States: over 1.2 million e-mails ensued.