Univision Drops Trump, Miss Universe Over "Insulting Remarks"
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Television station Univision just cut its ties to Donald Trump and his organization after Trump recently blamed Mexico for many of the problems in the United States.
Trump went on to say Mexicans who come to the U.S. are drug smugglers, criminals and rapists.
Univision reaches the largest number of Spanish-speakers viewers in the world. The network just signed an agreement back in January to air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, which Trump partly owns.
In a newly released statement Univision said it is ending its business relationship with the Miss Universe organization and part-owner Donald Trump.
The company said in part in the statement, "…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 immediately responded to Univision's announcement by tweeting, "Univision wants to back out of signed @MissUniverse contract because I exposed the terrible trade deals that the U.S. makes with Mexico. Mexican gov doesn't want me talking about terrible border situation & horrible trade deals. Forcing Univision to get me to stop- no way!"
Univision ended the statement by saying it will not air the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or work on any other projects tied to the Trump organization.
Univision and the "Trump National" Golf Resort are located in the City Of Doral.
The city's vice mayor, Sandra Ruiz, told CBS4's Donna Rapado it surprised her when a businessman of Trump's caliber called Mexican immigrants criminals, drug smugglers and rapists during his speech announcing his bid for U.S. President.
"As a Mexican-American I'm truly, truly offended," Ruiz said. "As an elected official I'm worried about the consequences and the economic impact it could have to this region."
Ruiz also said Trump called her to say he values Doral, he values her and he loves Mexicans.
"So I'm hoping that this will serve as a process that he can understand that we as immigrants contribute quite a bit to our community and to the U.S. and that the Hispanic community is here to stay," Ruiz explained. "We as a community are very powerful and have a lot of purchasing power."
At a City of Miami commission meeting on Thursday, city leaders also unanimously condemned Trump's remarks with a resolution against all racially, culturally and national origin-related insensitive statements from anyone supporting public office, including the Office of the President of the United States.
"We are a diverse community," said City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado. "He should understand that if he comes here to ask for money from governments there are consequences to what you say."
In a newly released video statement on social media, Doral Mayor Luigi Boria says Trump offended the Latino community.
"We also have to take this as an opportunity to teach Mr. Trump the reality of the Latin community. We have contributed a lot to this great country," said Boria in the video. "I know the Central American, the Caribbean, the Mexican people are good people. And what he said about us is not right."
The move comes after Trump announced his bid for the White House in 2016.