Donald Trump sells Miss Universe Organization; will this get them back on TV?

Here is a story that certainly escalated quickly. Just a few short days ago, Donald Trump was basically the sole owner of the Miss Universe Organization after buying out NBC, he has now sold them to marketing / talent agency WME/IMG for an undisclosed amount of money. In a statement, the former “Celebrity Apprentice” host and Presidential candidate had the following message to pass along:

“I have truly enjoyed owning the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants … When I purchased the pageants many years ago, they were in serious trouble.  It has been a great honor making them so successful…The pageants are now in the hands of a great company that will shepherd them to even greater levels of success.”

This was really the right move for all parties involved. Trump gets to pad his bank account a little bit, but at the same time also frees the pageant, which has been mired in controversy ever since its owner’s comments about Mexican immigrants during his campaign. Univision and NBC had both dropped the Miss USA Pageant earlier this summer, and it is to be seen if many Latin American countries will now participate in Miss Universe after previously planning to boycott. Without being attached to a singular owner, the odds of someone’s comments hurting the pageant are significantly lower. (The organization had said following Trump’s comments that they operate largely independently of him, and should not be held responsible for what he says.)

Hopefully, we’ll get a sense moving forward as to if another network will pick up future broadcasts, but we could honestly see them going back to NBC now, or potentially either Fox or The CW. We don’t think they will have too much trouble.

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