NBCUniversal Dumps Donald Trump
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
DORAL (CBSMiami) – NBCUniversal, who has business and financial ties to Donald Trump, has decided to no longer work with the mogul and Republican presidential candidate over his "derogatory comments" aimed at Mexican immigrants.
Univision was the first to cut ties to Trump and his organization after Trump recently blamed Mexico for many of the problems in the United States.
Trump said the Mexican government pressured Univision to take that action because he called Mexicans rapists, drug dealers and criminals.
Univision released a statement which said it is ending its business relationship with the Miss Universe organization and part-owner Trump.
It read in part, "…based on his (Trump) 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."
Trump said the network later apologized to him.
However, on Monday, Randy Falco – the head of Univision – set the record straight in a memo to employees.
In the memp, Falco said he decided to end the network's relationship with Trump "…simply because it was the right thing to do. No one approached me, asked me or pressured me to take this action… A number of ridiculous assertions bordering on the bizarre…That the Mexican government put pressure on us, that we were under political pressure to hurt a Republican candidate's (Trump) chances to the nomination… None of this is remotely true. I can also assure you we never apologized because we have nothing to apologize."
And like Univision, NBC will no longer be working with the host of their "Celebrity Apprentice" show.
NBC released a statement:
"At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values. Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump. To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC. In addition, as Mr. Trump has already indicated, he will not be participating in "The Celebrity Apprentice" on NBC. "Celebrity Apprentice" is licensed from Mark Burnett's United Artists Media Group and that relationship will continue."
In Trump fashion, he sounded off a response immediately.
"I think as far as ending the relationship, I have to do that because my view on immigration is much different than the people at NBC," he said.
Trump then took to his social media pages to post a letter.
"If NBC is so weak and so foolish to not understand the serious illegal immigration problem in the U.S. couple with the horrendous and unfair trade deals we are making with Mexico, then their contract violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court."