Confidence has always been Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's strongest suit. After Miss Universe host Steve Harvey messed up the announcement of winners and declared Miss Colombia as the winner instead of the actual winner, Miss Philippines, Trump said Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutiérrez and Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach should have been declared co-winners.
Trump also said the mistake would not have happened if he was still in control of the organisation.
Since 2002 up to September 2015, the Miss Universe Organization was a joint venture between NBC and Trump. But following Trump's controversial comments about undocumented immigrants during his 2016 presidential announcement speech, NBC cancelled all business relationships with the Miss Universe Organisation and with Trump, reports said.
Last September 2015, Trump bought out NBC's 50 percent stake in the organisation, making him the company's sole owner. But after three days he sold the entire pageant to WME/IMG.
"Very sad what happened last night at the Miss Universe Pageant," he tweeted on Monday. "I sold it 6 months ago for a record price. This would never have happened!"
During an interview on the Today Show, Trump became more subdued with his comments and said that mistakes like that could happen to anyone. "Things happen... it's live television," he noted, adding that Harvey is a "great guy."
Many of Trump's Twitter followers were sceptical whether or not he could have prevented Harvey from announcing the wrong name.
"You would have prevented Steve Harvey from accidentally reading the wrong name?" someone asked, to which another sarcastically responded: "But of course. He would have built a wall around him before the show. Can't be too careful."
Others thought that Trump was simply joining the Miss Universe pageant brouhaha to get talked about. "Trump is a nut. He'll throw anyone under a bus for his personal gain. He doesn't care," someone wrote.
Someone else commented that there was no need for Trump to make Harvey feel worse than he already did. "No need to pile on. Mistakes happen, you've made them and I'm sure you don't like your face rubbed in it," a Twitter user wrote.
Another added: "Doubt you could prevent someone from making an honest mistake + this is the most Miss Universe has ever been discussed."
