NBC television and Televisa on Monday severed business ties with Donald Trump, joining a chorus of protests over remarks about Mexican immigrants made by the US presidential hopeful.
It means the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants — for which Trump owns the broadcast rights — will not be aired on NBC, which is a unit of Comcast Corp.
And Trump, 69, is to no longer appear in the NBC reality show The Apprentice, where he had been a star attraction.
Photo: EPA
Just hours later, Mexico’s Televisa — the world’s largest Spanish-language network — also announced its decision to cut business ties with the billionaire property developer.
“Mr Trump has shown neither understanding of nor respect for Mexican migrants and has offended the entire population of Mexico,” a Televisa statement said.
NBC and Televisa’s announcements came four days after Univision, the leading broadcaster in the US Spanish-language TV market, broke with the Miss Universe Organization.
Miss Universe is a popular show watched by viewers around the world.
Trump has angered many in the US with comments he made in announcing his run for the Republican Party presidential nomination last week.
Hispanics are the country’s fastest-growing minority and the majority of US Hispanics are of Mexican descent and origin.
In his 45-minute announcement speech, Trump said: “When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending their best. They are sending people that have lots of problems and they are bringing those problems with us. They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. They are rapists.”
Trump’s comments triggered criticism both in the US and Mexico.
Mexican Secretary of the Interior Miguel Angel Osorio Chong called them “prejudiced and absurd.”
However, Trump is not backing down. Over the weekend, he said Mexico should pay for a wall along the border it shares with the US.
“You have people coming through the border that are from all over. And they are bad. They are really bad,” Trump said. “I am not just saying Mexicans; I am talking about people that are from all over, that are killers and rapists.”
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