Miss USA 2015 update: Jeannie Mai quits due to Donald Trump's 'ongoing antics'
Team Trump continues to get smaller as another Miss USA co-host quit from her hosting duties due to the controversial immigration comments made by pageant owner Donald Trump last month. After releasing a statement last week that she would remain a part of the pageant despite the tycoon's comments, Jeannie Mai of "The Real" talk show has ultimately decided to step down, citing Trump's "ongoing antics" as her reason for quitting the show.
The talk show host took to Instagram on Monday, July 6, to inform her friends and fans that she is not going to be a part of the pageant and explained her statement from last week when she said that she was staying on as a co-host.
"At the time I made my decision to remain part of the Miss USA pageant, I was under the impression that Mr. Trump would no longer be involved in the production of the show in any capacity whatsoever," she wrote. "In addition, given Mr. Trump's ongoing antics, including his most recent episode today with the current Miss Universe, it is clear that Mr. Trump's actions have and will continue to distract focus away from the real stars of the show — the women involved in the pageant."
Mai was referring to Trump's Twitter post last Sunday wherein he called reigning Miss Universe Paulina Vega of Colombia a "hypocrite" for criticizing his comments while opting not to relinquish her crown.
In her Instagram post, Mai said that she feels terrible that the women competing this year suffered because of Trump's anti-immigration comments, wherein he called Mexicans entering the U.S. "rapists" who bring "drugs" and "crime" across the border.
Mai is the fifth Miss USA co-host to quit after Rosalyn Sanchez and Cristian dela Fuente quit as co-hosts of the Spanish telecast of the pageant, followed shortly by Cheryl Burke and Thomas Roberts, who have also resigned as co-hosts of the show. Trump's comments prompted NBC to drop the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants, and the network officially cut ties with the real estate mogul last week.