Longtime Miss USA broadcaster NBC cut ties with pageant part-owner Donald Trump over comments he made about Latinos, but the show will go on. The pageant has been picked up by the cable channel Reelz, according to Variety.
"The decision on the part of Reelz to acquire the rights to the Miss USA Pageant was based on our belief that this special event—and the women who compete in it—are an integral part of American tradition," said Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard in a statement. "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."
When announcing the Miss USA pickup, Reelz did not address any of the controversial remarks Trump made in his presidential campaign kickoff speech.
According to Reelz, the network is distributed to 70 million U.S. homes. The independent channel, based in Albuquerque, N.M., is focused on entertainment and reality programming with shows like "The Kennedys," "Hollywood Hillbillies," "Beverly Hills Pawn" and "Hollywood Scandals."
This isn't the first time Reelz stepped in to acquire a network cast off. The channel agreed to air a miniseries about the Kennedy family in 2011 after several other broadcasters passed on it, according to CNN Money. The Miss Universe Organization, which runs the pageant, said it would live stream the pageant on its website if no network decided to pick it up. "We're a little company that happens to have been caught between two behemoths," pageant president Paula Shugart told Entertainment Weekly.
The Miss USA Pageant will air live on July 12 from Baton Rouge, La., at 8 p.m.
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