NBC Universal axed the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants co-owned by Donald Trump today after the billionaire’s harsh remarks about Mexicans and other immigrants.
“At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values,” the company said in a statement. “Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.”
Trump created a firestorm June 16 when he announced he was running for the 2016 GOP nomination for president and belittled immigrants, prompting Univision, the Spanish language network, to refuse to air the Miss Universe pageant.
Trump has not backed down and repeated many of the comments on CNN Sunday on “State of the Union.”
"I like Mexico. I love the Mexican people. I do business with the Mexican people, but you have people coming through the border that are from all over. And they're bad. They're really bad," he told CNN's Jake Tapper.
"You have people coming in, and I'm not just saying Mexicans, I'm talking about people that are from all over that are killers and rapists and they're coming into this country," he said.
Trump had already announced that he would not be participating in “The Apprentice,” the show he hosts on NBC. But NBC said that “Celebrity Apprentice,” which is licensed by Mark Burnett’s United Artists Media Group, will continue.