NBCUniversal said it is ending its business relationships with Donald Trump following fallout over remarks about Mexican immigrants Trump made while campaigning for president.
NBCU said it will not air the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, which were joint ventures with Trump, and that Trump will not be participating in the primetime show The Celebrity Apprentice.
Last week Univision said it would not be airing Miss Universe because of the comments about Mexicans. A war of words erupted between Trump and the Spanish-langauge network and Trump threatened a lawsuit over Univision’s plan to ignore a valid contract.
The pressure shifted to NBCU, which made its announcement Monday.
Here’s the statement released by NBCU:
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. Apprentice would have been problematic for the network so long as Trump was a presidential candidate, as his appearances on an entertainment show would have triggered station obligations to offer airtime to all other qualified candidates.
