NBC Universal has severed its business relationship with reality-TV star and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The network announced it was “ending its business relationship” with Trump after the magnate railed against Mexican immigrants in his presidential announcement speech, calling them “rapists” and drug dealers.
NBC emailed TPM the statement on Monday:
At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values.
Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBC is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.
To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC.
In addition, as Mr. Trump has already indicated, he will not be participating in “The Celebrity Apprentice” on NBC.
“Celebrity Apprentice” is licensed from Mark Burnett’s United Artists Media Group and that relationship will continue.
In a statement to reporters captured by CNN on Monday, Trump said that while he had “a great relationship with them,” NBC “didn’t want me to run, because they wanted to do the Apprentice.”
“As long as I’m running for president, they were not happy with it,” he continued, “and now with my statements on immigration, which happen to be correct, they are gonna take a different stance, and that’s okay. Whatever they wanna do is okay with me.”
“As far as ending the relationship, I have to do that. Because my view on immigration is much different than the people at NBC,” he concluded.
Trump’s office also released a statement calling NBC “weak” and mentioning former “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, who was demoted after being caught telling bogus stories on air.
“They will stand behind lying Brian Williams, but won’t stand behind people that tell it like it is,” Trump said in the statement.
Spanish-language broadcaster Univsion was the first to break ties with Trump on Friday, saying it would not air his Miss USA pageant.
Trump stood by his comments in an interview with Fox News and threatened to sue Univision for breach of contract.
“Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCU is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump”
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 29, 2015
This post has been updated.
cue right-wing whining about ‘free speech rights being oppressed’
Umm, even Fox stops employing their yahoos when they start running for President. What took NBC so long?
It’s not mentioned in the article, but NBC is the station that airs The Apprentice.
I know he’s a joke candidate, but has there ever been a presidential campaign kickoff speech that resulted in as much self-inflicted damage? It’s like if Gary Hart had announced his candidacy with Donna Rice sitting on his lap.
He might just not say the first think that comes in to his mind if it is going to cost him money. Don’t believe the billionaire mogul crap. it is obvious that his wealth is a sham. He is constantly in need of money. That is why he took on the Celebrity Apprentice show.