Donald Trump and Univision have settled their legal fight over Univision’s decision to drop the Miss USA and Miss Universe telecasts last year after Trump made disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants.
Details of the settlement were not disclosed. Univision had just signed a five-year deal with the Miss Universe Organization for U.S. Spanish-language TV rights to the beauty pageants when Trump, now the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination, stirred outrage by asserting that many undocumented Mexican immigrants were “rapists.”
At the time the Miss Universe franchise was jointly owned by Trump Organization and NBCUniversal. The furor over Trump’s remarks, made in June at the formal announcement of his candidacy, forced NBC to join Univision in hastily dropping the July 12 Miss USA telecast in protest. The Miss USA pageant wound up airing on the independent cabler ReelzChannel, drawing a fraction of the audience that the telecast typically garnered on NBC.
Shortly afterward, Trump bought out NBCU’s share of Miss Universe and then quickly flipped it to WME/IMG.
Trump filed a $500 million lawsuit against Univision, claiming that political interference from one of Univision’s owners, prominent Democratic fundraiser Haim Saban, drove the company’s decision to back out of the contract. According to the court filing, Univision’s five-year rights deal was valued at $13.5 million.
The war of words between Trump and Univision escalated last summer to the point where Univision banned employees from engaging in work-related business at any Trump-owned facilities.Univision’s Miami headquarters are next door to Trump’s National Doral luxury hotel.
News of the settlement included brief statements from Trump and Univision CEO Randy Falco.
“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.
Falco said: “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.”
The first Miss Universe telecast produced under its new ownership regime made headlines in December when host Steve Harvey accidentally crowned the wrong winner and had to reverse himself minutes later.
In a D.C. court Judge’s Order that Trump’s effort to keep secret his video recorded deposition in a case where he sued a restaurant chef for pulling out of the deal, the Order revealed tha:
“During his deposition, Mr. Trump testified that ‘[w]ith Univision, I had a signed contract’
and they ‘went to court, and they [Univision] paid a substantial amount of money to me.’
(Donald J. Trump Tr., June 16, 2016 at 58:2-4.)”
Trump didn’t WIN this case – he settled. Which is a negotiation somewhere between what he wanted and what Univision wanted.
3 weeks later (today) Trump gives a speech saying he never settles. Absolute con-artist.
Craig, Donald Trump said he doesn’t settle with people who sued him as that would open doors to more law suits. He did not say he would negotiate a deal when he sues another party. I hope that clarifies your misunderstanding.
Trump is a champion, down with the uselessly flabby politicians of today and yesterday. Viva Trump!!!
TRUMP, and other like-minded individuals, have a voice in politics today, and will tomorrow, because corrupt and incompetent governments everywhere have failed in every aspect of their fiduciary responsibilities towards their individual countries, and as representatives of their countries on an international level. TRUMP is a breath of fresh air compared to the alternatives. People are in a desperate search for something where less than nothing has existed for far too long. People around the world are done with watching their individual countries implode while they also watch international efforts continually fail on every front.
The vast majority of voters today are against the status quo and all of its endless BS and failures at home and around the world. Those elitist out there, suffering with their superiority complexes, always were and continue to be wrong minded. Their decisions have failed everyone. They’re bankrupting countries everywhere. They need to wake up and smell the roses. They are well over due for a rude awakening. Their vote has no more value than any other vote. We all need a wake-up call. TRUMP is every voter’s wake-up call. We can’t keep doing the same thing and expecting different results, that’s the definition of insanity. Not being politically correct is correct. The real fear today is not changing what we are doing. Every voter today knows that if we don’t do something to change our current course we will lose everything.
Trump’s complaint of a voter high-jacking in IOWA, apologized for by Ted Cruz, was validated by Trump’s New Hampshire landslide victory results and all voters will remember this. If numbers mean anything, TRUMP is the real deal and votes know this to be true. The wrong minded disgruntled elitist establishment and special interest groups will try everything to stop TRUMP. Forget the naysayers. Their desperate pathetic dying efforts are as hollow as they are. Mocking Trump is their Achilles heel. Their BS will fail. They refuse to hear the voters. It’s time to say goodbye to the old boys club. Disgruntled voters, of every party affiliation, are always the true and only catalyst for positive changes. We definitely need to clean house. Vote for change; Vote to make America great again. Become the catalyst for other countries to vote to make their countries great again.
THE TRUMP-MEISTER: 1
UNIVISION: 0
Univision had their collective butts handed to them on a platter. Probably enought to finance the rest of Trumps campaign. AND, Trump will get the Hispanic vote – the “legalized” Hispanic-Americans. Too funny.
It’s not nice to mess with the Donald.
LMAO…settled means Trump didn’t have anything to take them to court for and settled for a tanning booth
Why would this mean Trump has the hispanic vote?
Trump understood that such a high value lawsuit would put pressure on Univision and make them want to settle out of court just in case.Trump walks away with $10 million and he probably would have walked away with a lot less had he not had filed the lawsuit in the amount he did.
There is a difference between a case with no grounds and one with, and Trump’s lawsuit against Univision had grounds to stand on because Univision broke their contractual agreement with Trump. It wasn’t just Trump’s word against theirs, but Trump actually had papers and documents proving his argument, and if he went to court he might not have gotten $500 million, but maybe $50 or $100 million.
Congratulations Mr. Trump,I hope my family is the first to vote for you.
TRUMP is a winner – always and he will be our next president – GO TRUMP GO !!!!
A truly worthless program owned by an equally worthless individual.
Serves Univision right for opting to air the ridiculous show to begin with.
No make them chip in for the wall!
DONALD J. TRUMP ALWAYS GETS PAID.
And goes bankrupt surprisingly often.
Who said he got paid. Settled means Trump agreed to now sue if Univision would drop their countersuit
Yet always stay wealthy
showing how corrupt the bankruptcy process is.
Good for Donny. I can sleep so much easier now…