Donald Trump announced that he is no longer in legal disputes with NBCUniversal on Twitter this Friday.
In the wake of the Republican presidential candidate’s controversial claim during his 2016 campaign launch in June that undocumented Mexican immigrants are “rapists” and “criminals,” NBCUniversal, mnsbc’s parent company, cut business ties with Trump, putting the Miss Universe/Miss USA series’ future in question. NBC was scheduled to broadcast the pageants and owned half of the rights to the franchise.
“At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values,” NBC said in a June statement. “Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.”
The ever-litigious Trump promptly threatened to sue. “If NBC is so weak and so foolish to not understand the serious illegal immigration problem in the United States, coupled with the horrendous and unfair trade deals we are making with Mexico, then their contract violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court,” Trump said in a statement.
It appears that Trump has since bought out the remaining shares. “Now own 100% – stay tuned,” Trump tweeted on Friday. NBC has confirmed that they have sold their half of the pageant rights to Trump.
The spat over the beauty pageants also soured Trump’s relationship with the Spanish language network Univision. The channel had a deal with the real estate mogul to broadcast the Miss Universe competition but they backed out following the uproar over his comments on immigration.
“At Univision 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,” the company said in a statement at the time. ”We will not be airing the Miss USA pageant on July 12th or working on any other projects tied to the Trump Organization.”
Trump has repeatedly refused to back down from his assertions, calling them “totally accurate.”
Meanwhile, he revoked Univision employees’ access to a golf course he owns near their property and recently got into a heated clash with one of their anchors, Jorge Ramos, at a press conference in Iowa.
After the departure of Miss Universe hosts and telecast partners, Trump frequently lamented that the contestants (who he described as “51 wonderful girls”) were being “abandoned.”
“What NBC and Univision did to these young women was disgraceful,” Trump said in June.
Jane C. Timm, msnbc.com
Editor's Note: This replaces an earlier version of the story from The Associated Press which said Trump had settled lawsuits against NBC. While Trump had legal disputes with NBC and claimed he filed lawsuits, none were actually filed.