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By Oren Laurent
President, Banc De Binary
This story began several weeks ago, when Donald Trump, the real-estate tycoon and television personality, made some offensive remarks about Mexican immigrants during his June 16 presidential campaign announcement. Trump’s remarks set off a chain reaction which began in the Mexican American community raising an uproar and ended in several businesses cutting off ties with the Trump empire.
NBC, which produces the hit show “Celebrity Apprentice,” announced that it would not allow Trump to return as the host and producer of the show. Analysts estimate that Trump’s contract with the network was worth an average $65 mln per year.
But, NBC is not the only one to cut ties with Trump over his derogatory comments. Univision, an American Spanish-language network, reported that it would cancel a deal to collaborate with Trump on his “Miss Universe” and “Miss USA” projects. Trump has said that the deal was worth $13.5 mln over a 5-year period.
In reaction to Univision’s cancellation, Trump announced that he will be suing Univision for $500 mln. “Under the contract,” reads a statement from the Trump Organisation, “Univision is required to broadcast the pageant live on television in Spanish… [the cancellation] 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.”
So, what exactly did Trump say during his campaign speech which has led these major corporations to cancel their contracts with the business mogul? The remarks were quite extreme.
“The US has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” Trump said during his opening speech, on June 16. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best… They’re sending people that have lots of problems… They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume are good people.”
Despite the wave of businesses severing ties with Trump, he still seems to have a fighting shot in America’s Republican primary elections. A recent poll by CNN shows that Trump holds 12% of the votes, putting him in second place, behind former President George W.’s younger brother, Jeb Bush.
Univision has defended its decision to cancel its contract with Trump. The network issued its own statement, saying: “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.”
Macy’s, a multi-national chain of department stores, has now also joined the boycott. The corporation will cease to sell Trump’s menswear line.
“We are disappointed and distressed,” said the Macy’s statement, “by the recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico… In light of statements made by Donald Trump, which are inconsistent with Macy's values, we have decided to discontinue our business relationship with Mr. Trump and will phase-out the Trump menswear collection, which has been sold at Macy's since 2004.”
