About Me

My photo
Beverly Hills, California, United States
Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

Translate

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

NBC under pressure to cut Trump ties

Politico
By Dylan Byers
June 29, 2015

More than 200,000 people have signed a Change.org petition calling on NBCUniversal to cut its ties with Donald Trump because of remarks the Republican presidential candidate made about Mexican immigrants.

The petition, written by Guillermo Castañeda Jr., requests that the network cancel Miss USA and Miss Universe, which are co-owned by Trump and NBC, as well as "The Apprentice," which Trump hosts. Castañeda accuses NBC of "supporting a hateful and narcissistic individual without any kind of values" and "supporting a growing trend of bigotry and division in this country."

"I am wondering as to why the Latinos are being treated as second class citizens," Castañeda writes. "A few days ago, one of your TV reality show stars by the name of Donald Trump, decided to announce his candidacy for the largest public position in the United States, the presidency. He called Latinos, not only Mexicans, rapists, drug users and criminals."

The petition comes amid a public dispute between Trump and Univision that began last week when the Spanish-language broadcaster announced it would end its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization based on what it described as Trump's "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants." At his campaign launch, Trump had said he would build a wall to stop Mexico from dumping "rapists" and criminals on U.S. soil. He later accused the media of trying "to distort my comments regarding Mexico and its great people."

While Trump and Univision have been trading shots -- Trump says he will sue Univision for breach of contract and defamation, and has banned Univision employees from his Miami Doral golf resort -- NBC has tried to distance itself from Trump's remarks while still maintaining its business deals with the real estate magnate.

“Donald Trump's opinions do not represent those of NBC, and we do not agree with his positions on a number of issues, including his recent comments on immigration," the company said in a statement. NBCUniversal spokespeople did not respond to a request for comment regarding the petition.

Castañeda took issue with NBC's lack of action: "Univision decided to see principles as a priority instead of business and cut ties with Trump and Miss USA," he wrote. "You did not cancel Miss USA, The Apprentice or even made reference to his hateful and divisive remarks. Not only that, but the only reason why you would not have him as head of The Apprentice would be because of his political aspirations, not because of his incendiary remarks in a country where violence against minorities and racism are still around daily."

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump is currently polling in eighth-place nationally, according to the RealClearPolitics aggregate, but finished second in the most recent Fox News poll. He is also polling second to Jeb Bush in multiple polls in New Hampshire.

For more information, go to:  www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com

No comments: