This year, 94 women competed for the title Miss Universe. The winner got a salary for completing her year of Miss Universe duties, a modeling contract, an apartment in New York City, and invitations to special events. In the previous years, that apartment was in Trump Tower. However, that is no longer the case, and this year’s winner won’t be residing in Trump Towers. Trump used to be the owner of the pageant, but he sold it to WME/IMG in 2015.
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Trump’s history with Miss Universe
The first Miss Universe competition was in 1952. In 1996, Trump bought the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA. He decided to shift the focus on winners to beauty over intelligence because he felt that bore him. “They had a person that was extremely proud that a number of the women had become doctors,” Trump said to Howard Stern in 2005, “And I wasn’t interested.”
His behavior with girls
The first winner when Trump bought the pageant was Alicia Machado of Venezuela, in 1996. She claimed she was bullied by Trump during her reign as Miss Universe, who gave her nicknames “Miss Piggy” after she gained weight and “Miss Housekeeping” because of she of her Latin origin. She was fearing that she will lose her title, so she kept her mouth shut, and went along.
Some of the Miss Teen USA participants claimed that Trump used to go in their dressing room while they were changing clothes. Even though Trump denied it all, he did admit to Howard Stern that he did see some of the contestants naked in the Miss USA and Miss Universe. Some girls from Miss USA claimed that he was grabbing them inappropriately, and one even said that he kissed her against her will. Trump denied this as well.
His connection with the contestants
Recently, some previous pageant officials claimed that Trump had a direct say at who will be in the final of Miss Universe. He had a preference over some certain type of girls, and he didn’t like the ones who seemed too “ethnic.” “If there were too many women of color, he would make changes,” said one former staffer according to the book Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin’s War on America and the Election of Donald Trump. “He often thought a woman was too ethnic or too dark-skinned. He had a particular type of woman he thought was a winner. Others were too ethnic. He liked a type. There was Olivia Culpo, Dayanara Torres, and, no surprise, East European women,” said another staffer. It was also revealed that Trump rejected some girls that didn’t answer to his demands, and that he favored the ones that came from the country he had business with.
Why did he sell Miss Universe
He sold it in 2015 because of his immigration statements during his presidential campaign. The co-owners of the pageant, NBC dismissed him after the scandal. Trump then went on to buy NBC’s part of the pageant, and later sold it to IMG, who is the current owner.
Source: Cheat Sheet
