Donald Trump And ?Univision Settle $500 Million Miss Universe Pageant Lawsuit
Though Donald Trump is currently in the middle of his Republican presidential campaign, the real estate mogul found time to settle the $500 Million Miss Universe Pageant lawsuit with Univision, reports Variety.
“I have known Univision’s President and CEO, Randy Falco, for more than 20 years and I’m glad we are able to put these differences behind us,” Donald Trump said in a statement released via Univision.
Donald Trump, Univision reach settlement over Miss USA pageant https://t.co/yjxfWmMNmw pic.twitter.com/sUBPLlVkhU
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 11, 2016
Randy Falco says “I have known Donald Trump for many years in both a personal and professional capacity and we are pleased to settle this matter and move forward.”
In June of 2015, Donald Trump made some very controversial and offensive comments regarding the Mexican community, when discussing immigration during his presidential campaign.
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Univision at the time was, understandably, not happy with any of this. The Miss Universe franchise was owned by both the Trump Organization and NBCUniversal and in reaction to Trump’s comments, NBC decided to join Univision in cancelling the July 12 Miss USA telecast. Instead, it aired on ReelzChannel, drawing a portion of the audience away from NBC. Following this protest, Trump bought out NBCU’s share of Miss Universe, turning it into WME/IMG, and filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision. Donald Trump claimed that Haim Saban, prominent Democratic fundraiser and a co-owner of Univision, was causing political interference.
https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/697289601308893184
Univision began banning employees from participating in any sort of work-related business at any facilities owned by Donald Trump. What may have made the situation worse, and ironic, is the fact that Univision’s Miami headquarters are located directly next door to Trump’s National Doral luxury hotel. Univision argued that Trump had no evidence for his claim that Univision colluded with NBCUniversal, other than the the timing of the decline of the relationship. Additional companies, such as Macy’s, ESPN, and NASCAR were also moving farther and farther away from Donald Trump.
This $500 million settlement is coming fresh off the heels of Donald Trump winning the New Hampshire primary, and this also happened before a judge could make a decision on Univision’s motion to dismiss.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBlmj8hmhf3/
What’s more interesting is what Trump’s lawyers specifically said in regards to the lawsuit. According to documents the lawyers filed last month, Donald Trump’s controversial comments “could hardly be viewed as unforeseeable, let alone cataclysmic,” going on to say that Trump has been known to be a “straight-talker” for a long time. In 2011, Trump made comments on immigration similar to what he said in 2015, when he was in an interview with Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, although they may not have been quite as scathing as his most recent statements.
Meanwhile, with his recent win of at least 20 percent of the vote in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the chances of Donald Trump becoming the Republican presidential front-runner and candidate are becoming more and more likely. With these numbers, it certainly doesn’t look as if he is going anyway.
[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]
