An Albuquerque-based cable TV channle has picked up NBC’s scraps and will air the Miss USA Pageant.
Reelz Channel will air the pageant and says that Donald Trump, the businessman and Republican presidential candidate, will not profit from the pageant. The cable channel picked up the pageant after NBC dropped the event.
NBC and Trump will head to arbitration to settle the dispute.
The pageant became another casualty of the fallout from comments that Trump made during his speech launching his presidential campaign.
When speaking about Mexicans entering the country illegally, Trump said, “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.”
Trump has lost business partnerships and been denounced by those in both his party and the Democratic Party, even as he has defended his statements. Univision and NBC both said they would not air the Miss USA Pageant, which is owned by Trump.
Enter Reelz.
From the Associated Press:
Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard said in a statement Thursday that the cable and satellite channel acquired the rights because of a belief that the pageant and the women who compete in it “are an integral part of American tradition.”
“As one of only a few independent networks, we decided to exercise our own voice and committed ourselves to bringing this pageant to American viewers everywhere,” Hubbard said.
The Albuquerque Journal reported on Friday that Trump will not profit from the pageant airing on Reelz.
It’s unclear what the pageant will look like. While the channel now has a home, the hosts and all the musical guests dropped out of the event while distancing themselves from Trump’s controversial comments.The pageant still lacks a host, six days from airing.
This isn’t the first time that Reelz picked up something that another network had dropped because of its controversial nature. The cable network picked up a miniseries called The Kennedys in 2011 about the famous political family after The History Channel decided not to air it, reportedly under pressure from the Kennedy family. Many other networks turned down the project before it landed on Reelz.
The Miss USA Pageant will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on July 12.
