The Reelz channel has no regrets about taking on Donald Trump's Miss USA pageant. The network's CEO Stan E. Hubbard said he was proud to save the annual pageant after the show was dropped by both Univision and NBC following Trump's comments on Mexicans during his introduction into the Republican race.
"As many of you know, Reelz has been in the news lately for saving the Miss USA pageant, and we're darn proud of that," Hubbard said during the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Sunday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The pageant was dropped after Trump said some Mexican immigrants are "rapists" and "drug dealers" who have ruined the United States.
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," Trump said in his speech. "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."
Hubbard said the network made a tough decision "in a politically charged atmosphere." He later added that Reelz saved the pageant out of sympathy for the women competing and not because the network approved of Trump's controversial remarks.
To be fair, Hubbard told critics that he was also offended by Trump's comments, calling them "terrible" and "ridiculous."
"When Miss USA the television show was canceled, it was for reasons of political correctness," Hubbard explained. "What we saw was a pageant with young women from across the country who made this their lives' ambition to be in the show. We saw a community in Baton Rouge that stood up to roll out the red carpet for this event; a television audience who'd been watching this for 54 years and not one of those people or communities had anything to do with what caused this, but they were going to be the fallout."
Hubbard, who thinks that the pageants "belong on a broadcast channel," said the Miss USA organization needs an "ownership change." Adding, "I do believe that there will probably have to be an ownership change in that organization. Now, for my two cents, I don't see Trump going away easily for NBC. I don't know how it's going to play out."
