Facing breach of contract, Univision today announced it is ending the company’s business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, part-owned by Donald J. Trump, after he made highly offensive and “insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants” during a speech declaring his candidacy for president.
That means that the Miss USA pageant will not air on UniMás network on Sunday, July 12, as Univision announced on June 16 – the same day of Trump’s speech. The Spanish-language telecast was scheduled to be hosted by Cristián de la Fuente and Roselyn Sánchez.
Trump’s legal team retaliated by announcing they will sue for “hundreds of millions of dollars” for backing out of a legally binding contract.
In his speech, Trump affirmed that Mexican immigrants were criminals, rapists and drug traffickers, even though he acknowledged there were some “good people.”
The comments caused a social media firestorm, and Univision was criticized on Facebook and Twitter for having ties with Trump – a man whose derogatory statements affect the very audience the network serves.
After the backlash, Univision this morning issued a two-paragraph statement backing out of the Miss Universe deal:
“Today, the entertainment division of Univision Communications Inc. announced that it is ending the Company’s business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which is part-owned by Donald J. Trump, based on his recent, insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants. At Univision, we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country. We will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or working on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization.
Univision News and the local news division will continue to provide comprehensive coverage of all candidates, including Mr. Trump, to ensure our audience continues to have access to all points of view.”
Not one to stay quiet, Trump immediately sent out several tweets reinforcing his earlier comments:
Univision wants to back out of signed @MissUniverse contract because I exposed the terrible trade deals that the U.S. makes with Mexico.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2015
Mexican gov doesn’t want me talking about terrible border situation & horrible trade deals. Forcing Univision to get me to stop- no way!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 25, 2015
Univision signed a 5-year deal with the Miss Universe organization in January of this year, valued at more than $13 million.
Backing out of the deal will cost Univision a pretty penny. According to the LA Times, the network already paid a $2.5-million fee to cover the pageant rights for this year.