Univision Drops Pageant Over Comments by Donald Trump

The fledgling presidential bid by Republican Donald Trump led to quick fallout in business for him with Univision. The network said it would drop Trump’s Miss USA pageant from its network and cut all of its ties with Trump due to comments he made about Mexican immigrants.

On Thursday, the company announced that it was canceling its coverage in Spanish-language of the July 12 pageant. It also cut its business relationship with Trump’s Miss Universe Organization that produces the pageant, due to what the network called insulting remarks Trump made about immigrants from Mexico.

NBC was silent about its coverage of the July 12 pageant. The pageant has been airing on that network since 2003. However, it looked to but distance between itself and remarks made by Trump.

A statement released by NBC said that the opinions of Donald Trump did not represent those at NBC.

During his kickoff speech for this presidential campaign last week, Trump portrayed Mexican immigrants as bringing drugs, bringing crime, being rapists while some he assumed were good people.

He added that he called for building a wall on the border with Mexico and the U.S. The remarks he made drew harsh condemnation from the government of Mexico as both absurd and biased.

In a Thursday interview, Trump said his remarks were directed against policy makers in the U.S. and not the people or the government of Mexico, adding that Univision was defaulting on a contract if it did not air the pageant and legal action would be taken.

Trump said that Univision was submitting to the pressure from leaders in Mexico to punish home for the position he voiced as a presidential candidate.

Trump said the network was laying down for the government of Mexico and wants to silence him and he would not be silenced. He added he had great respect for Mexico and loved its people, but his loyalty was with the U.S.

Trump in a Telemundo interview scheduled for Sunday with Jose Diaz-Balart said many bad people are coming into the U.S. from Mexico as well as elsewhere.

He said terrorists would come through the border and he had no doubt they were.