Donald Trump sues Univision for $500m over Miss USA beauty pageant
Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has filed a $500m (£319.3m) lawsuit against Univision Communications after the US television company scrapped plans to screen the Miss USA beauty pageant.
Read more: Donald Trump in quotes
Univision and NBC dropped the 12th July event co-owned by Trump after the billionaire made derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants when announcing his intention to run for the Republican candidate for US president.
The outspoken entrepreneur referred to Mexican immigrants as "rapists", causing an outcry from Hispanic community groups, prompting Univison – which focuses primarily on Spanish-speaking audiences – to cancel all future events from Trump's Miss Universe Organisation.
Univsion said the remarks were "insulting".
Trump said in doing so the company had "abandoned 51 wonderful women" and announced his intention to sue for $500m – just under half of Univision's entire operating income, which stood at $1.1bn last year.
In a statement Trump said:
Nothing that I stated was different from what I have been saying for many years. There is a high level of crime occurring in this country due to unchecked illegal immigration. This is a major security issue for the United States.
As a consequence of their inappropriate actions, Univision and NBC have abandoned 51 wonderful young women who have come from all over the United States to pursue their dream of being crowned Miss USA. Their participation in this globally renowned pageant has come at great cost and after years of sacrifice and hard work.
Update: Trump has now been dumped by Macy's, who sold his menswear collection, following pressure from 725,000 people.