Univision dropping Miss USA pageant over Trump comments

[webfact]

Univision dropping Miss USA pageant over Trump comments
By FRAZIER MOORE

NEW YORK (AP) — A Univision network is dropping the Miss USA pageant and the company says it will cut all business ties with Donald Trump in a spiraling controversy over comments the Republican presidential candidate made recently about Mexican immigrants.

Univision said Thursday it would pull the plug on its Spanish-language coverage of the pageant July 12 by its UniMas network. It also has severed its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which produces the Miss USA pageant, due to what it called "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants" by Trump, a part owner of Miss Universe.

During his presidential campaign kickoff speech last week, Trump portrayed immigrants from Mexico as "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people." He also called for building a wall along the southern border of the U.S. The remarks drew condemnation from the Mexican government as "biased and absurd."

NBC is scheduled to go forward with its own pageant coverage, as it has done since 2003. But in a statement Thursday, the network sought to separate itself from Trump's remarks.

"Donald Trump's opinions do not represent those of NBC, and we do not agree with his positions on a number of issues, including his recent comments on immigration," NBC said.

Trump is part of another NBC program, "Celebrity Apprentice."

In an interview Thursday, Trump said his criticism was directed against U.S. policymakers, not the Mexican people or government, adding that Univision would be defaulting on its contract if it doesn't air the pageant and he would take legal action.

"At Univision, we see firsthand 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," said the New York-based Univision Communications Inc.

Both co-hosts of the UniMas telecast also pulled out Thursday, while Colombian singer J Balvin on Wednesday canceled a planned performance at the pageant.

"The only thing I could do as a person, not only as an artist, but as a Latino that I am, was to cancel my show immediately," he told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Trump said Univision is submitting to pressure from Mexican leaders to punish him for positions he voices as a candidate on the campaign trail.

"They don't want me saying that Mexico is killing the United States in trade and killing the United States at the border," Trump said. "Univision is totally laying down for the Mexican government. ... They want to silence Donald Trump. And Donald Trump can't be silenced. ... I have great respect for Mexico and I love the Mexican people, but my loyalty is to the United States."

Univision declined to comment on Trump's remarks.

In severing her ties with the show, Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez, one of the two co-hosts, cited Trump's comments.

"Since I heard Trump's speech, as a Latina I felt a lump in my stomach. 'It's got to be a joke,' I thought," the star of the Lifetime series "Devious Maids" told The Associated Press.

Also on Thursday, Chilean actor-producer Cristian de la Fuente, the show's other co-host, had strong words for Trump: "It's a shame that such an important institution as Miss USA is now in the hands of a clown."

Ricky Martin also took to Twitter to blast Trump.

"A lot of hatred and ignorance in his heart," he tweeted.

Miss California USA Natasha Martinez was asked about Trump's comments during an interview Thursday on Los Angeles TV station KCAL and said they were "a little bit tough to hear."

"But I know that this opportunity for me as Miss California-USA, and now competing for Miss USA, is a great bridge to kind of represent my community and let the world know that I am a proud Latino-American," she said.

This year's UniMas telecast would have been the first in a five-year contract that Trump said "has no termination rights." Univision's wholly owned Spanish-language UniMas network, founded in 2013, is available in 70 million U.S. homes.
___

Associated Press writers Sigal Ratner-Arias and Claudia Torrens in New York, and John Antczak and Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-06-26

[Pimay1]

The truth hurts. The tolerant liberal champions of free speech politically correct crowd can't handle the truth.

[WitawatWatawit]

Trump really has put the American people in a bind. Even before the vote, Trump is forcing Americans to make a stand on their values, morals and ethics. It will say a lot about the American people if they do not protest en masse to force this idiot out of the running. If Trump's name is still on the ticket come polling day, the American people may find themselves facing severe questioning as to their intellectual judgment. (Bush was a different issue entirely.)

[oneday]

Yep, there is truth in much of what he says. The cartels run the country now and their sole aim is to sell as many drugs as possible to Americans. Yeah, there is no excuse for the stupid people who buy these drugs, but it's virtually impossible for law enforcement to stop the flow of drugs into the US.

And the illegal immigrant issue has been very contentious for many, many years. The problem is enough Mexicans have made it into the US over the years and been given amnesty so they are now a political powerhouse and a huge influence on US politics. They help shape favorable laws to be even more lenient on illegals. Eventually they will have enough influence to just open the flood gates and let them all in.

[razer]

If what you say is true ... show me the evidence, Donald. Show me the evidence.

[HeijoshinCool]

He was not referring to immigrants. Trump was talking about illegal aliens.

There's a difference. And it's a big one.

[empireboy]

'Trump' - trumpeting American values as demonstrated in their practises rather than in all it's B/S rhetoric!

I hope the whole world stands up and hold the USA accountable.

[sdanielmcev]

Funny how some are entitled to their opinion and others are not.

[Berkshire]

Whether there's even a grain of truth in what Trump said, if I were Mexican-American (or just Hispanic), I would be deeply offended. That's the problem with anyone who supports Trump and his off-the-wall remarks, a total lack of empathy.

But all that aside, the fact that Trump is a Republican is not helping his party. The Hispanic numbers, along with their political influence, are growing exponentially every year. Don't these GOP dudes ever learn?

[sammygood]

who will clean your houses, pick up your garbage, slaughter your animals, do your gardening ? all jobs done by immigrants, deemed to be too good for those americans

[HerbalEd]

The truth hurts. The tolerant liberal champions of free speech politically correct crowd can't handle the truth.

Do you have inside knowledge of what's the truth? Are there no rapists, drug dealers, criminals in your home country?

[ALLSEEINGEYE]

Ignorance knows no bounds. At the very least this presidential election will be one hell of a circus. A multi billion dollar circus at that.

[HeijoshinCool]

What's amusing (and quite disingenuous) is the well-know regular posters here who repeatedly condemn any westerner in Thailand, without mercy, when he does a little work on his house, gives free English lessons, plays a guitar for tips, is a week into an overstay or stays in LOS on consecutive tourist visas, but excuses millions of foreigners who enter the USA illegally, take jobs from its citizens, and don't pay taxes.

Two-faced, aren't you?

[Pimay1]

The truth hurts. The tolerant liberal champions of free speech politically correct crowd can't handle the truth.

Do you have inside knowledge of what's the truth? Are there no rapists, drug dealers, criminals in your home country?

Of course there are these criminal types in the US. No need for inside knowledge. Public knowledge reveals the truth.

An FBI crime study shows heavy illegal alien involvement in criminal activity revealed these statistics:

• 75 percent of those on the most wanted criminals list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
• One quarter of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals, as are more than 40 percent of all inmates in Arizona and 48 percent in New Mexico jails.
• Over 53 percent of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
• 63 percent of cited drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that number, 97 percent are illegal aliens. 66 percent of cited drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66 percent, 98 percent are illegal aliens.

[oneday]

'Trump' - trumpeting American values as demonstrated in their practises rather than in all it's B/S rhetoric!

I hope the whole world stands up and hold the USA accountable.

Please, would just one of you USA detractors stand-up and proudly proclaim what country you come from so we can all learn you have a right to spout your garbage because you are from a PERFECT country.

Go on...come on...what wonderful country are you from?

I will agree with one thing...Trump isn't the best US citizen to representative us.

[IMBabaBobo]

The truth hurts. The tolerant liberal champions of free speech politically correct crowd can't handle the truth.

Do you have inside knowledge of what's the truth? Are there no rapists, drug dealers, criminals in your home country?

Of course there are these criminal types in the US. No need for inside knowledge. Public knowledge reveals the truth.

An FBI crime study shows heavy illegal alien involvement in criminal activity revealed these statistics:

• 75 percent of those on the most wanted criminals list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
• One quarter of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals, as are more than 40 percent of all inmates in Arizona and 48 percent in New Mexico jails.
• Over 53 percent of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
• 63 percent of cited drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that number, 97 percent are illegal aliens. 66 percent of cited drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66 percent, 98 percent are illegal aliens.

What percent of illegal aliens are those percentages taken from? There are no records of how many illegal aliens there are, so impossible to give a percent. Maybe the percent of illegal activities account for only 2 percent of illegal aliens. So, inversely (in your example), the other 25%, or 60%, or 52%, etc, are pure-blood Americans, so maybe we should deport all Americans too. Baby/bathwater ring any bells?

[Gandtee]

Yep, there is truth in much of what he says. The cartels run the country now and their sole aim is to sell as many drugs as possible to Americans. Yeah, there is no excuse for the stupid people who buy these drugs, but it's virtually impossible for law enforcement to stop the flow of drugs into the US.

And the illegal immigrant issue has been very contentious for many, many years. The problem is enough Mexicans have made it into the US over the years and been given amnesty so they are now a political powerhouse and a huge influence on US politics. They help shape favorable laws to be even more lenient on illegals. Eventually they will have enough influence to just open the flood gates and let them all in.

I heard a rumour that The Native American Indians have started complaining about illegal immigrants who came into their country a few hundred years.

[thaibeachlovers]

Trump will sue them and make big bucks on them breaking a 5 year cast iron contract.

[Pimay1]

The truth hurts. The tolerant liberal champions of free speech politically correct crowd can't handle the truth.

Do you have inside knowledge of what's the truth? Are there no rapists, drug dealers, criminals in your home country?

Of course there are these criminal types in the US. No need for inside knowledge. Public knowledge reveals the truth.

An FBI crime study shows heavy illegal alien involvement in criminal activity revealed these statistics:

• 75 percent of those on the most wanted criminals list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
• One quarter of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals, as are more than 40 percent of all inmates in Arizona and 48 percent in New Mexico jails.
• Over 53 percent of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
• 63 percent of cited drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that number, 97 percent are illegal aliens. 66 percent of cited drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66 percent, 98 percent are illegal aliens.

What percent of illegal aliens are those percentages taken from? There are no records of how many illegal aliens there are, so impossible to give a percent. Maybe the percent of illegal activities account for only 2 percent of illegal aliens. So, inversely (in your example), the other 25%, or 60%, or 52%, etc, are pure-blood Americans, so maybe we should deport all Americans too. Baby/bathwater ring any bells?

Please read the FBI crime study again carefully. The total number of illegal aliens in the US is irrelevant to the total number of criminals on any given list. What is relevant is the percentage of illegal aliens who appear on the list compared to the total number of individuals on said list. i e. if you have a list of 100 most wanted criminals containing 25 legal citizens and 75 illegal aliens, 25% would be legal citizens and 75% would be illegal aliens. This in no way suggests that all illegal aliens are criminals. This basic formula applies to each of the four points cited in my original post.

Simple example; You have two hundred apples and you separate them by weight. One hundred apples weigh 100 grams and above to which you call list A. One hundred apples weigh 99 grams and below to which you call list B. Of list B there are seventy five rotten apples. Thus 75% of list B apples are rotten. You could not say correctly that 75% of all two hundred apples are rotten.

[dunroaming]

I always enjoy the circus that is the USA elections more than the one we have in the UK. All the nutcases come out of the woodwork on both sides of the fence and everyone gets their knickers in a twist. Since GW the Republicans have fallen apart and need to re-invent themselves with a new direction and policies. However with the likes of Trump and yet another Bush standing it looks, at the moment, like a clear win for Clinton.

I have no axe to grind here and clearly Obama has not fulfilled the high expectations most people had of him.

As a Brit though, the outcome will have a bearing on our relationship with the US, be it Republican or Democrat.

Break out the popcorn and settle down for the fun to come!

[HooHaa]

simply put electing a billionaire to office is sheer stupidity.

the man is an attention whore, once the glamour of TV faded for him, the next logical step was to take his ego to the white house

Edited June 26, 2015 by HooHaa

[Thakkar]

I'm not trying to make excuses for the guy, but I think Trump has his wig on too tight. It's stopping circulation to his brain. Give the man a break, people.

T

[F430murci]

He is somewhat correct. Mexico is run by the Cartels and there is very little, if any, law enforcement or judiciary system at the local levels. The country is in complete chaos and these are actually some very bad people that make ISIS look like choir boys. ISIS just whacks heads off. These cartel guys have a tendency to exert extreme torture before whacking the heads off. The beat people with baseball bats, being careful not to hit the head so the victim remains conscious, until almost every bone in the extremities and pelvic region are shattered. They may even does some shocking in the process for goo measure. They then left the victims suffer for a while before cutting off the limbs and then the head. They burn people alive in barrels, they use an axe to start chopping off feet, hands, then at the knees and elbows and the at the hips and shoulders and then the head and they use knifes just to filet people . . . These are actually the people that tend to make it over the border. The cartels control immigration and have a tendency to take peoples money and just execute before they make it across the border. Cartel member, however, move freely in and out of the US.

[Chicog]

Whether he is somewhat correct, it wasn't phrased in the most diplomatic language and they have every right to be offended.

Whether they have the legal right to cancel a contract over it will be decided by a court, but frankly anyone who watches that vacuous nonsense needs their head examined anyway.

[sdanielmcev]

Trump is already got his lawyers up to the plate. Nobody has a "right' to be offended. That's PC nonsense. To the question, 'who's going to do the (fill in the blank) labor?' Americans. The idea that only Mexicans/ Central Americans will do manual labor is a manufactured policy to make dems look good supporting the "huddled masses." All the while denying Americans the means to start in the working world.

[bendejo]

Univision said to Trump "you're fired!" And then his usual response: I'll sue you. He tried to sue a comedian who said Trump's mother was a baboon -- not for defamation but because he was wrong, and showed his birth certificate to prove it.

I was hoping for something like this, that he says something that damages 'his brand.' Never mind this presidential farce, he's facilitating the demise of his crappy reality show (which I can't believe people watch). Stay tuned, there's more to come.

[chuckd]

The "more to come" is that the Univision executives will have to find a new place for their power lunches and golf games.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donald Trump bans Univision staff from his Miami golf resort

By DYLAN BYERS

6/26/15 1:13 PM EDT

Donald Trump sent a letter to Univision CEO and president Randy Falco on Friday informing him that "no Univision officer or representative" is allowed to use his Trump National Doral, the resort and golf club immediately adjacent to Univision offices in Miami, the On Media blog has learned.

The move is the latest in a public dispute that started Thursday when Univision announced it would end its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which is co-owned by Trump and NBCUniversal, based on what it described as Trump's "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants" during the launch of his presidential campaign. Trump later announced that he would sue Univision for breach of contract and defamation, and accused Univision of defaulting on an "iron-clad" $13.5 million contract, which he said it had no right to terminate.

In the letter, Trump writes to Falco, "Please be advised that under no circumstances is any officer or representative of Univision allowed to use Trump National Doral, Miami—its golf courses or any of its facilities. Also, please immediately stop work and close the gate which is being constructed between our respective properties. If this is not done within one week, we will close it."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/06/donald-trump-bans-univision-staff-from-his-miami-golf-209570.html

[Chicog]

Nobody has a "right' to be offended. That's PC nonsense.

Great so I have carte blanche to insult you and your family as much as I like then?

[Chicog]

The "more to come" is that the Univision executives will have to find a new place for their power lunches and golf games.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Donald Trump bans Univision staff from his Miami golf resort

By DYLAN BYERS

6/26/15 1:13 PM EDT

Donald Trump sent a letter to Univision CEO and president Randy Falco on Friday informing him that "no Univision officer or representative" is allowed to use his Trump National Doral, the resort and golf club immediately adjacent to Univision offices in Miami, the On Media blog has learned.

The move is the latest in a public dispute that started Thursday when Univision announced it would end its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which is co-owned by Trump and NBCUniversal, based on what it described as Trump's "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants" during the launch of his presidential campaign. Trump later announced that he would sue Univision for breach of contract and defamation, and accused Univision of defaulting on an "iron-clad" $13.5 million contract, which he said it had no right to terminate.

In the letter, Trump writes to Falco, "Please be advised that under no circumstances is any officer or representative of Univision allowed to use Trump National Doral, Miami—its golf courses or any of its facilities. Also, please immediately stop work and close the gate which is being constructed between our respective properties. If this is not done within one week, we will close it."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2015/06/donald-trump-bans-univision-staff-from-his-miami-golf-209570.html

I guess they'll have to cross the road to the Costa Del Sol Golf Club or the Jim McLean Signature Course a block down.

I wonder how many corporate memberships the silly sod has just written off.

[chuckd]

I thought you were a golfer. Would you rather play the Costa Del Sol Golf Course or Doral's Blue Monster?

I doubt the "silly sod" gives a damn if he loses their corporate membership.

Edit:

I just noticed the Costa Del Sol is a public course asnd is not private. Univision could take all their illegal immigrant friends there for a round of golf. This is looking better and better for Univision.

I'm sure the wine cellar is extensive too.

Edited June 27, 2015 by chuckd