Content Warning: This article contains mentions of sexual misconduct, body shaming, and offensive language.
Most of us know that Donald Trump was a real estate mogul before rising in his political career. He was also a big TV personality with the hit show The Apprentice and was also involved in a bunch of other ventures, including launching various products with his own name as a brand. However, one thing about him is still little known: the POTUS was also a co-owner of the Miss Universe organization, which hosts the Miss Universe Pageant as well as the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants.
Donald Trump was the co-owner of the organization from 1996 to 2015. However, during his time, the pageants were frequently surrounded by controversy. According to Reuters, during Trump’s last year with the show, the Miss USA Pageant was dropped by NBC because of his controversial remarks about the Hispanic immigrants.
That wasn’t the only controversy, as Trump got involved in some uncomfortable moments, including walking in on contestants when they were getting ready. According to some contestants, who were competing for the Miss Teen USA, Trump would visit dressing rooms and later he even bragged about it.
As reported by Roll Call, on Howard Stern’s radio show in 2005, he openly admitted, “And everyone is getting dressed and ready, and everything else and then there are no men or anywhere, and I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m inspecting it. … ‘Is everyone okay? Is everybody okay? And you see this incredible-looking woman. And so I sort of get away with things like that.”
The same was confirmed by Samantha Holvey, who was the Miss North Carolina in 2006. She told CNN that Donald Trump “would step in front of each girl and look you over from head to toe like we were just meat, we were just sexual objects, that we were not people.” Miss Arizona 2001 Tasha Dixon shared a similar experience. She revealed that the now-POTUS would often walk in on girls when they were only partially dressed or even undressed.
Another such controversial incident involving Trump was when he body shamed Alicia Machado. She was just 19 when she represented Venezuela in the 1996 Miss Universe pageant. She won, but when she put on some weight afterwards, the Republican referred to her as “Miss Piggy,” as reported by Inside Edition. Later, he even defended his remarks on Fox and Friends. He commented that she was “the worst we ever had…She gained a massive amount of weight. It was a real problem.”
However, his comments about Mexican immigrants led NBC to drop the pageant. According to BBC News, he said, “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some I assume are good people, but I speak to border guards and they tell us what we are getting.” Following the cancellation, Donald Trump sued NBC. As part of the settlement, he bought out NBCUniversal’s shares.
