The one thing everyone can agree on about Donald Trump is that he doesn’t have enough money. But in case you were planning on putting together a canned food drive for the man whose net worth is a mere $4 billion, fear not — it seems he’ll be coming into (or is trying to come into, at least) a little more pocket change in the near future to tide him over.
Trump is now, according to NPR, suing Univision — the Spanish language TV channel that decided to discontinue the Trump-produced Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants after the Republican presidential candidate/hairdo made grossly disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants during his campaign announcement. Humble man that he is, Trump thinks he can make due with $500 million from the company.
The lawsuit, filed with the New York State Supreme Court, alleges that Univision was trying to encroach upon Trump’s freedom of speech. As per an excerpt from The Trump Organization’s statement:
Under the contract, Univision is required to broadcast the pageant live on television in Spanish. While Univision claims its decision came solely in response to comments by Mr. Trump during a June 16 campaign speech announcing his candidacy for President of the United States, the decision was, in reality, a politically motivated attempt to suppress Mr. Trump’s freedom of speech under the First Amendment as he begins to campaign for the nation’s presidency.
In response, Monica Talan, a spokesperson for Univision, told Politico in an email:
We just reviewed Mr. Trump’s complaint for the first time, and it is both factually false and legally ridiculous. We will not only vigorously defend the case, but will continue to fight against Mr. Trump’s ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made on June 16th about Mexican immigrants. Our decision to end our business relationship with Mr. Trump was influenced solely by our responsibility to speak up for the community we serve.
The Miss USA pageant is still scheduled to happen (though it won’t be broadcast either by Univision or NBC, and though Cheryl Burke and Thomas Roberts — its two slated hosts — have now detached themselves from the event). According to CNN Money, at a campaign event in New Hampshire yesterday, Trump neglected to address the Hispanic community’s anger at his comments, but rather focused on the “51 wonderful girls” who’d be participating in the pageant, and how “what NBC and Univision did to these young women was disgraceful.” Yes, the most crucial thing is that our next president support and advocate for… pageants.