The real estate mogul sues Univision for dropping the broadcast of his Miss USA beauty pageant, claiming the channel has violated their contract.
- Jul 1, 2015
AceShowbiz - Donald Trump proves how serious he is with his threat. The real estate tycoon has filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision after the channel dropped the broadcast of the Spanish-language version of his Miss USA beauty pageant.
"Nothing that I stated was different from what I have been saying for many years," he said in a statement. The lawsuit was filed in the New York Supreme Court on Tuesday, June 30. In the lawsuit, Mr. Trump claims Univision violated a five-year, $13.5 million contract signed this year to broadcast Miss USA and other Miss Universe pageants. The lawsuit also claims that Univision was trying to "suppress" his freedom of speech.
Trump told Bill O'Reilly on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor", "The papers were just filed, so that will be interesting. I have a signed contract for five years on the pageants. They have no right to terminate. They didn't even send me a letter, they terminated with a PR statement. They called me, also -- one of the top people at Univision, so apologetic -- 'Donald, we shouldn't be doing this, I know that. We'll pay you whatever money you need or whatever money you want.' "
Responding to the lawsuit, Univision released its own statement, "We just reviewed Mr. Trump's complaint for the first time, and it is both factually false and legally ridiculous. We will not only vigorously defend the case, but will continue to fight against Mr. Trump's ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made on June 16th about Mexican immigrants. Our decision to end our business relationship with Mr. Trump was influenced solely by our responsibility to speak up for the community we serve."
Univision isn't the only channel to have parted ways with Mr. Trump following his controversial remark about Mexican immigrants. NBC, which aired his show "The Celebrity Apprentice", recently fired him. The 66-year-old businessman commented on the network's decision, "I don't even think they know themselves. I think they are weak, and I think they are afraid of the issue at the border."
"We had very good ratings last season, and they were not happy when I said, 'I'm running,' " he continued explaining. "You know they renewed 'The Apprentice'. They went out and renewed it and what happened is, the other day I went up to No. 2 in the polls, so they see they're not going to be getting me. Then they have people complaining about my rhetoric."
Defending himself, Mr. Trump added, "I've had the same rhetoric for years, you know that. I've been fighting border security and I've been fighting trade more than anyone else."
Mr. Trump drew the ire of many people when he said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best ... They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us," during the announcement of his presidential candidacy on June 16. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. ... And some, I assume, are good people."
He also told O'Reilly, "It's totally accurate. The border is a disaster, Bill. People are pouring in, and I mean illegal people, illegal immigrants -- 300 and some odd thousand are in your state jails right now, according to Homeland Security."
