Dennis RomeroSome of the pressure for NBC to cut ties with mogul Donald Trump came from the Pasadena-based National Hispanic Media Coalition.
The group's CEO, Alex Nogales, met Friday with the network's entertainment chairman, Bob Greenblatt, and its entertainment president, Jennifer Salke. He urged them to “sever all ties with Trump,” the NHMC said in a statement today.
“Bravo,” Nogales said. “It is good to have media partners with a conscience who understand that doing business with people like Trump is not only unconscionable but also would harm relationships with the Latino community and other fair-minded non-Latinos.”
The Apprentice host and Miss USA co-owner said this during during his June 16 announcement that he plans to run for president as a GOP candidate:
When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're not sending you. They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
Many Latinos, even those born here and those without Mexican roots, were appalled, and NBC, which runs The Apprentice, Miss USA and the Trump–co-owned Miss Universe, was pressured to dump Trump. NBC said today:
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.
Spanish-language network Univision said it would not honor an agreement to air Miss USA. Trump said he would sue, and he banned Univision employees from his golf courses and hotels.
Today Trump said he would sue over NBC's decision, too. And he doubled down on his remarks about Mexican immigrants who come to the United States illegally.
He said this in a statement today:
We must have strong borders and not let illegal immigrants enter the United States. As has been stated continuously in the press, people are pouring across our borders unabated. Public reports routinely state great amounts of crime are being created by illegal immigrants. This must be stopped and it must me stopped now.
Trump's assumptions about those here illegally are challenged by the facts. As a result of the Great Recession and greater border security, “Net illegal immigration from Mexico has fallen to zero,” says PolitiFact.
While the number of unauthorized immigrants from Mexico has been declining, the number of those coming here from Asia and other nations has been rising, says the Pew Research Center.
And while the U.S.-Mexico boundary is no Great Wall, the Obama White House has funded more boots on the border than any other presidential administration.
Numerous studies have concluded that those here illegally do not commit crime at greater rates than citizens.
Credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr
“Immigrants are less likely to commit crimes or be behind bars than the native-born, and high rates of immigration are not associated with higher rates of crime,” says the Immigration Policy Center. “This holds true for both legal immigrants and the undocumented, regardless of their country of origin or level of education.”
Of course, it's clear to most of us that Trump's hate-mongering is his way of pandering to the extreme right wing. Even his own party doesn't really take him seriously. But Trump still ranked second to Jeb Bush in recent polling of support for six GOP presidential candidates. And he does have a bully pulpit on or off the campaign trail.
The NHMC, which also gave credit to the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda's Media Committee for its anti-Trump efforts, called the mogul's presidential announcement a “bigoted, racist, anti-Latino rant:”
NBC Universal/Comcast, to its credit, moved to disassociate itself from a man who has either failed to realize or to accept that hate speech against any and all communities will no longer be tolerated.
NHMC applauds NBC Universal/Comcast for joining Univision and the two MC's of the Miss USA Pageant, Roselyn Sanchez and Cristian de la Fuente, for braving Trump's threats of lawsuits and taking huge monetary losses for their actions rather than continue their relationships with a bigot.
Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Dennis Romero on Twitter at @dennisjromero. Follow L.A. Weekly News on Twitter at @laweeklynews.
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.