Miss Universe Pageant Loses 4 Million Viewers After Trump Comments

[Initech]

The Miss USA Pageant lost about 4 million viewers this year after NBC dropped it and cable channel Reelz picked it up as a result of comments the competition's part-owner, Donald Trump, made about Mexican immigration.

According to Variety, 925,000 people tuned into the Miss USA Pageant during its first airing at 8 p.m. ET Sunday on Reelz. A second airing at 11 p.m. ET attracted 248,000 more viewers to the program for a total night's viewers of 1.27 million.

A good night for Reelz (which averages 103,000 viewers on Sundays during the summer), the number is a big drop for the pageant compared to its NBC days.

Last year's Miss USA was watched by 5.6 million viewers on NBC. So, the pageant dropped more than four million viewers year-over-year.

The whole ordeal began when Trump made offensive comments regarding Mexican immigration and immigrants during his speech announcing his candidacy for president. Univision, a member of NBCUniversal, then canceled its agreement to air Miss USA. NBC would later follow.

http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-miss-usa-pageant-ratings-reelz-vs-nbc-2015-7

[lpbk2713]

1. Trump likes lawsuits so much.

Maybe he'll understand if the pageant sues him for damages.

[pinboy3niner]

2. He came in like a wrecking ball...

Graphic by DUer trusty elf

[Initech]

6. I think I need a new monitor!

[Beacool]

3. Good!!

Personally, I don't watch beauty pageants anyway. I have always disliked them, even as a teenager. There's something distasteful about women parading in scanty clothes and performing like trained seals so that one of them may be chosen as the prettiest in the bunch. It's sexist. Are we still in the early part of the 20th century?

I understand that nowadays women do it to win the money they need to pay for college. Still, pageants are a throwback to another era where beauty and "moral" behavior were esteemed to be the most desired traits in a woman. Intelligence and a good education were not necessary and even frowned upon.

[Brother Buzz]

4. I lost interest in this crap over forty years ago, but this little tidbit sealed the deal

Donald Trump's modeling agency hired Miss South Carolina (Caitlin Upton)!!!!

[Initech]

8. The SI Swimsuit Issue: How Is This Still A Thing?

[Brother Buzz]

11. I never made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated...

but my name appeared in Sports Illustrated a year before the first of the Swimsuit Issue splashed. That's a fact, Jack.

[Blue Owl]

5. Need your ratings in the dump? Call Trump!

n/t

[Gothmog]

7. Trump is an idiot and has been fired by NBC and Univision

[B Calm]

9. If Trump would walk out on stage in speedos, maybe more viewers would tune in

for the comedy.

[Initech]

10. The never nude portion?