Reelz Channel head defends picking up Miss USA Pageant, distances it from Donald Trump
There has been something oddly fascinating today about watching the latest news break down regarding the Miss USA Pageant. In theory, wouldn’t you think that Donald Trump would be happy that the pageant has been picked up by Reelz Channel after it was dropped by NBC? You would certainly think so, but he has been oddly silent about it. Some of that could go to him not wanting to be a distraction to the contestants. Then again, it could also be due to a certain perspective that the head of the network happens to feel about the new acquisition.
Speaking in an interview on CNN today, Stan Hubbard spoke about the Reelz Channel decision, and insisted first and foremost that in no way should airing the Miss USA Pageant make it seem as though he supports anything that Trump had to say recently on Mexican-Americans or immigration:
“Our carriage of this event should not be construed as anything political. It is anything but, it is television, it is entertainment … We do not condone or agree with, in any way, any of these comments that Mr. Trump has to say … This will be the 54th year of the Miss USA pageant, and none of those contestants, none of the people in Baton Rouge, none of the little girls at home who aspire to this, want to watch it, none of the people at home who have been watching this on television for decades had anything to do with this. The Miss USA pageant is about as non-political as anything [out there] could possibly be.”
Hubbard also said that they paid a relatively small license fee of around $100,000 for the event, and that any money made will go to the network rather than to Trump, who is one of the pageant’s co-owners. He also admitted that because of the holiday weekend coming before the July 12 event airs, he may have a hard time finding advertisers. He says that he is doing it for the contestants, which is probably the one moment that comes off as a little less-than-stellar. He knows that this pageant will bring a ton of attention to a network that does not always get a whole lot of it.
You can read more about the Reelz pickup from earlier in the day over at the link here. Also, sign up if you are interested in some other TV news on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)