Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Will Now Air on Reelz

Reelz has salvaged the rotting carcass of Donald Trump's Miss USA pageant.

After NBC announced this week that it is severing ties with Trump in the wake of controversial comments he made about Mexican immigrants, Reelz announced Thursday that it will broadcast the spectacle.

"The decision on the part of Reelz to acquire the rights to the Miss USA Pageant was based on our belief that this special event, and the women who compete in it, are an integral part of American tradition," Reelz CEO Stan E. Hubbard said in a statement. "As one of only a few independent networks, we decided to exercise our own voice and committed ourselves to bringing this pageant to American viewers everywhere."

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NBC isn't alone in distancing itself from Trump after his anti-immigration remarks, which were made during his speech announcing his candidacy for president. The former Apprenticehost described Mexican immigrants as "bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

Univision was the first network to announce it would no longer broadcast the Miss USA pageant. Co-hosts Cristian de la Fuente, Thomas Roberts, Cheryl Burke and Roselyn Sanchez, as well as judges Emmitt Smith and Jonathan Scott and performers including Flo Rida, have also said they will no longer be participating. In addition, several corporate sponsors have pulled out of the pageant.

Macy's also announced this week that it will discontinue its relationship with Trump and phase out his menswear line. Trump's contracts with the City of New York are also "under review," according to Mayor Bill De Blasio.

The Miss USA pageant - or what remains of it - is scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 12. It will be streamed live on the Miss Universe Organization's website and broadcast live on Reelz at 8/7c.

This isn't the first time Reelz has rescued a program. In 2011, it picked up the controversial miniseries The Kennedys, starring Greg Kinnear and Katie Holmes, after History dropped it. (A sequel miniseries, The Kennedys: After Camelot, is expected next year.) It is unclear if Reelz will also acquire Trump's Miss Universe pageant, which NBC also dropped.

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