Donald Trump did a quick, 180-degree turn on Twitter after last night’s Miss Universe crowning fiasco.
The real estate mogul, who sold the Miss Universe Organization to talent agency and entertainment company WME/IMG three months ago, had been praising the pageant’s new owners throughout the night, urging his followers to tune in on Fox (FOX). But, the morning after comedian Steve Harvey, the pageant’s host, mistakenly announced Miss Colombia as the winner only to take back the crown and give it to Miss Philippines minutes later, Trump tweeted out an admonishment of the mishap while implying that such a thing “would never have happened” under his ownership.
My friend, @AriEmanuel of @IMG, bought the Miss Universe pageants from me and they are on tonight on #Fox! Tune in!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2015
.@MissUniverse final 3 on now. Great people, great new owner @IMG. WATCH.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2015
Very sad what happened last night at the Miss Universe Pageant. I sold it 6 months ago for a record price. This would never have happened!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 21, 2015
In a statement, the Miss Universe Organization apologized to both Miss Colombia and Miss Philippines for the mistake. “The excitement of live TV was evident tonight on The Miss Universe stage with over 10 million live fan votes tabulated,” pageant officials said. “Unfortunately, a live telecast means that human error can come into play. We witnessed that tonight when the wrong winner was initially announced.”
Meanwhile, Harvey apologized on air, calling the flub a “horrible mistake” and later tweeted out an apology that misspelled the words “Colombia” and “Philippines.”
WME/IMG did not immediately respond to Coins2Day‘s request for comment on Trump’s tweets. The former reality television star and current GOP presidential primary frontrunner sold the Miss Universe Organization to the entertainment group in September, just days after Trump bought NBC’s half of the organization. Trump’s filings with the Federal Election Commission showed that his Miss Universe stake was worth between $5 million and $25 million.
Trump took full control of the pageant company, which operates Miss Universe and Miss USA, through the deal with Comcast’s (CMCSA) NBCUniversal after the company said it would not air the pageants due to derogatory comments Trump made about Mexican immigrants when he first announced his candidacy for president. That deal also settled a lawsuit Trump filed against NBC, though he still has an ongoing lawsuit against Univision, the country’s largest Spanish-language television broadcaster, which also refused to air the Miss Universe/Miss USA pageants due to Trump’s comments.
In October, Fox agreed to a deal with the pageants’ new owners to air Miss Universe and Miss USA.