A petition is calling for NBC to do the same thing Univision did last week: cut ties with Donald Trump. The billionaire is now running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and his controversial remarks about Mexican immigrants have already lead to Univision dropping the Miss USA pageant.
Last week, Univision announced that it will not air next month’s Miss USA pageant in response to Trump’s insulting remarks about Mexico when he started his campaign earlier this month. Trump didn’t back down easily, threatening to sue and then barring Univision employees from using a Miami resort he owns. He also posted a letter on Instagram from reporter Jorge Ramos and forgot to censor Ramos’ personal cell phone number.
NBC’s only response to this has been a weak statement. “Donald Trump’s opinions do not represent those of NBC, and we do not agree with his positions on a number of issues, including his recent comments on immigration,” the network said.
NBCUniversal co-owns the Miss Universe Organization with Trump. NBC also airs Celebrity Apprentice, which was renewed for another season and stars Trump.
Guillermo Castaneda Jr. started a Change.org petition, calling for NBC to do something more drastic by cancelling all of its shows with Trump. The petition has already garnered over 209,000 signatures.
“Food Network cancelled Paula Dean's shows for insulting the African-American community, Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty was suspended for his anti-gay remarks, and so on and so forth,” Castaneda wrote. “Yet, as one of the most watched TV networks in the country and owner of Telemundo, the second most largest Hispanic TV network, you side for business and not for ethics, principles and values.”
While on CNN’s State of the Union this Sunday, Trump insisted that he has nothing against Mexico’s people.
“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 said. “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.”
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