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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDonald Trump's Modeling Agency Is on the Verge of Collapse
Agency could become the first piece of his business empire to fall victim to his polarizing toxic presidency.
Donald Trump's presidency hasn't been good for one of his favorite businesses. The president's modeling agency has been losing models and senior staff in recent months amid a growing backlash over his toxic politics. And the problems at Trump Model Management appear to be escalating. In interviews with Mother Jones, three industry insiders said they believe the agency could be forced to close.
The sourcestwo model bookers who have worked with Trump Models and another person with deep ties to the agencyattributed the firm's sudden tailspin to the controversial president himself. The once glamorous Trump brand, they said, now appears to be tainted.A third sourcewho has close ties to Trump Modelsagreed that the situation at the agency is dire and that closing is a real possibility. This source requested anonymity to protect against the possibility of future legal action by the agency
Last summer, Mother Jones interviewed several foreign-born models who alleged they had worked illegally in the United States with Trump's agencya report that was particularly striking in light of Trump's hawkish stance on illegal immigration. Four former Trump models told Mother Jones they worked for the agency without work visas; one said she worked for the agency for four years without a visa. Records in a lawsuit filed against Trump Model Management by a fifth former model, Alexia Palmer, indicated that she, too, worked for the company without work authorization.
According to his most recent financial disclosures, Trump owns an 85 percent stake in the agency. He earned nearly $2 million in commissions from it in 2015. But since the election, the modeling firm he founded in 1999 has suffered from a series of staff defections, including longtime Trump agent Duane Gazi-White, who traveled the globe scouting new modeling talent at pageants and Miss Teen USA contests. He recently went to work for a Trump competitor, New York Models, as director of new faces and development.Another Trump agent, Gabriel Ruas Santos-Rocha, recently left Trump Models to set up a new modeling firm called Anti Management, which launched last month. "I did not start an agency with the intent of taking someone out of business," Santos-Rocha told the Washington Post this week. "Outside of that I have no comments."
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/04/trump-models-agency-potential-collapse-closure-sources
LisaM
(27,815 posts)was the Trump brand ever considered glamorous? It oozes tacky to me.
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)Shouldn't they? Or are immigration laws just for workers?
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)his so called Modeling Agency goes Bang.
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)gratuitous
(82,849 posts)I wonder how much bragging he's going to do if the agency closes shop?
HipChick
(25,485 posts)bdamomma
(63,883 posts)of collapse.