Donald Trump and Univision Settle $500 Million Miss Universe Lawsuit

Litigation stemmed from Spanish-language broadcaster’s refusal to air beauty pageants

Donald Trump and Univision have settled their lawsuit over the Spanish-language broadcaster’s decision not to air Miss Universe or Miss USA.

Univision dumped the pageants after the GOP frontrunner — who used to own the Miss Universe Organization — made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants. In late June, Trump sued Univision for damages over the move, which he believed to be “in excess of $500 million.”

The terms of the actual settlement were not released.

Trump’s original complaint claimed that Univision had agreed to pay a total of $13.5 million in licensing fees for the pageant over the next five years.

“We just reviewed Mr. Trump’s complaint for the first time, and it is both factually false and legally ridiculous,” Univision had responded at the time. “We will not only vigorously defend the case, but will continue to fight against Mr. Trump’s ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made on June 16th about Mexican immigrants. Our decision to end our business relationship with Mr. Trump was influenced solely by our responsibility to speak up for the community we serve.”

But then Trump sold the Miss Universe Organization to WME-IMG anyway in September.

“I have known Univision’s President and CEO, Randy Falco, for more than 20 years and I’m glad we are able to put these differences behind us,” Trump said Thursday from the campaign trail.

Falco added, “I have known Donald Trump for many years in both a personal and professional capacity and we are pleased to settle this matter and move forward.”

As part of his presidential-run’s platform, Trump has promised to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Early in his campaign, the former “Celebrity Apprentice” host accused illegal immigrants from south of the border of being responsible for much of our country’s rape and other crimes.

Comments