Univision reportedly asked a Manhattan federal court to toss out the $500 million lawsuit Donald Trump filed over the network's decision to stop airing Miss USA.
For those unfamiliar with the whole debacle, Spanish TV network Univision decided a while ago to put an end to the five-year deal to broadcast the Miss USA beauty pageant. That deal was worth $13.5 million. A few months ago, Donald Trump sued Univision over the decision to stop airing the pageant.
In his lawsuit, Trump accused the Spanish TV network of willfully breaching the contract. Other allegations included First Amendment violations, as well as defamation.
Things are not that simple, however. Univision reached its decision to stop airing Miss USA after Trump spoke ill about Mexican immigrants during his mid-June speech, when he announced his presidential candidacy.
At that time, Trump said that Mexican immigrants were rapists who brought drugs and crime, with only some of them presumably being "good people."
Seeing Trump attack Mexican immigrants in such a manner prompted the Spanish TV network to stop airing Miss USA despite the fact that it was still under contract. This decision affected the controversial would-be president because he is one of the owners of the Miss Universe Organization, alongside NBCUniversal.
According to a new report from the Daily Mail, Univision lawyers have now filed papers with a federal court in Manhattan, asking a judge to dismiss Trump's $500 million lawsuit.
"Univision struck back Friday at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's $500 million lawsuit claiming that it unjustly broke a contract to broadcast beauty pageants, citing his 'disgraceful allegations' about Mexican immigrants," the Daily Mail reports.
"The lawyers said Trump destroyed the value of Univision's rights to broadcast the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants when he announced June 16 that he was running for president."
Univision's sponsors, as well as its mostly Hispanic audience, said they would not put up with a business tied to Trump, leaving the Spanish TV network with virtually no choice but to dump the Trump-backed pageant.
In its filing, Univision further said that Trump's June announcement and comments regarding Mexican immigrants offended millions of people, making crass allegations that could not be ignored.
"Trump's invective ... rendered the pageants toxic to Univision's viewership," reads the filing. "Trump cannot now stick Univision with the bill."
