NBC has said to Donald Trump the two famous words that the real estate mogul has been issuing to many, many Apprentice contestants over the years: “You’re fired!”
You read that right: NBC is severing ties with Trump following derogatory and insulting comments about immigrants made during his presidential campaign announcement, including, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
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NBC has issued a statement regarding the news: “At NBC, respect and dignity for all people are cornerstones of our values. Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump.” This includes Miss USA/Miss Universe and his involvement with The Apprentice.
On TV, Trump is most famous for his reality franchise The Apprentice. “As Mr. Trump has already indicated,” NBC notes, “he will not be participating in The Apprentice on NBC. Celebrity Apprentice is licensed from Mark Burnett’s United Artists Media Group and that relationship will continue.” Based on this statement, NBC will continue airing The Celebrity Apprentice (it doesn’t look like it’s being cancelled; the show was renewed back in February), just without Trump involved.
Donald Trump has released a statement of his own, and he’s not backing down: “Mr. Trump stands by his statements on illegal immigration, which are accurate. NBC is weak, and like everybody else is trying to be politically correct.” Trump says, “If NBC is so weak and foolish to not understand the serious illegal immigration problem in the United States … then their contract violating closure of Miss Universe/Miss USA will be determined in court.”
As far as a replacement host is concerned, nothing is known at this time. Before now, some have speculated if NBC would hire one of Trump’s children, Ivanka or Donald Jr. But considering Trump was just dumped by the network, it’s unlikely he would let any of his family members stay on in any capacity.
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The Apprentice isn’t the only program of Trump’s that airs on NBC; there’s also Miss USA. As NBC also says, “The annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC.”
The Miss USA pageant has been a hot topic lately following Trump’s comments. Univision, the Spanish-language station, recently announced that they will be dropping the annual event from their network. In return, Trump threatened to sue Univision for breaking their contract. Along with this, some of the participants, including this year’s hosts, Cristian de la Fuente and Roselyn Sanchez, quit in protest, as did musician J Balvin.
The 2015 Miss USA pageant was scheduled to air on July 12. It is unclear if Trump will try to find another network to broadcast the show.
(Image courtesy of NBC)
Staff Writer, BuddyTV
Jeff Dodge, a graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena.
