Donald Trump files $500 million lawsuit against Univision for dropping Miss USA

As promised, Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Univision, which dropped the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants last week after Trump’s insulting comments about Mexican immigrants when he announced his run for the presidency. Trump owns the Miss Universe Organization and Univision was set to broadcast the July 12 pageant in Spanish.

On Monday, the Miss Universe Organization insisted that the show will still go on in Baton Rouge, even though NBC also dropped the event. Trump said that he would sue both networks, and was particularly angry with Univision. He even claimed that the Mexican government pressured the network to sever ties with him.

Trump said he would sue Univision based on breach of contract, insisting that Univision did not have the ability to just pull out of the deal on a whim. So, he’s suing them for $500 million in damages.

“Under the contract, Univision is required to broadcast the pageant on live television in Spanish. While Univision claims its decision came solely in response to comments by Mr. Trump during a June 16, 2015 campaign speech announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, the decision was, in reality, a politically motivated attempt to suppress Mr. Trump’s freedom of speech under the First Amendment as he begins to campaign for the nation’s presidency,” the statement reads.

After again listing his views on immigration and Mexico, Trump wrote that, “These have long been my views and I have the courage, unlike many others, to express them. as a consequence of their inappropriate actions, Univision and NBC have abandoned fifty-one wonderful young women who have come from all over the United States to pursue their dream of being crowned Miss USA.”

Trump also insisted that a Univision executive called him up to apologize, but Univision CEO Randy Falco said that this was not true.

“We cannot be associated with insulting and intolerant speech that brands an entire community of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. as people who bring drugs, crime and rape into our country,” Falco wrote in a memo that was obtained by CNN Monday. “To the contrary, as I said in our statement, we see first-hand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country.”

Trump added in his statement today that he will attend the pageant on July 12.

image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski/INFphoto.com