The network's CEO Stan E. Hubbard says 'there will probably have to be an ownership change' in the Miss Universe organization currently owned by Donald and NBCUniversal.
- Aug 10, 2015
AceShowbiz - Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard was asked about his decision to pick up Donald Trump's Miss USA pageant during the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Sunday, August 9. Stan said he was proud to save the pageant after it was dropped by Univision and NBC following Donald's controversial Mexican immigrant remarks.
"As many of you know, Reelz has been in the news lately for saving he Miss USA pageant, and we're darn proud of that," Stan said before praising the TV network's ability and willingness to "make those tough decisions even in a politically charged atmosphere when they pop up." He added that the contestants and the host city should not be punished for "reasons of political correctness."
"When Miss USA the television show was canceled, it was for reasons of political correctness," Stan explained, "What we saw was a pageant with young women from across the country who made this their lives' ambition to be in the show. We saw a community in Baton Rouge that stood up to roll out the red carpet for this event; a television audience who'd been watching this for 54 years and not one of those people or communities had anything to do with what caused this, but they were going to be the fallout."
Stan noted he was also offended by Donald's comments, saying, "I understand why there were so many people that were offended by what Mr. Trump said. We completely disavowed ourselves from any of those comments. I think they were terrible, I think they were ridiculous, but we were very proud to stand with the women of the Miss USA pageant and the community of Baton Rouge and bring it to the air."
"I may have misused the term political correctness earlier, or misunderstood you," he continued, "When we dealt with the pageant, we dealt with a management team. We could look at a group of contestants, we could look at a community in Baton Rouge that were going to be fallout for a decision that was made for good reason. We didn't go deal with Trump and try to bail Trump out of the problem. We helped the pageant."
Stan said Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, which are currently owned by Donald and NBCUniversal, need "ownership change." The CEO stated, "I do believe that there will probably have to be an ownership change in that organization. Now, for my two cents, I don't see Trump going away easily for NBC. I don't know how it's going to play out." He later added that pageants "belong on a broadcast channel."
