On Friday morning, another woman came forward to accuse Donald Trump of making an unwelcome pass at her. And this may be one of the worst stories yet. Actress Salma Hayek claims that when she spurned the Donald, he retaliated by planting a height-shaming article about her in the National Enquirer.
Hayek dropped this bombshell on KXOS, a Spanish-language radio station in Los Angeles. She told morning drive-time host Ricardo “El Mandril” Sanchez that Trump tried to make a move on her several years ago–even though she had a boyfriend. BuzzFeed got a clip.
When Mandril asked Hayek what she made of the numerous allegations against Trump, Hayek not only said she believed them, but was herself a victim. Early in her career, Hayek recalled that the Donald tried to become friends with her boyfriend at the time just to get her number. When he got her number, Hayek said, “he would call me to invite me out.”
Hayek replied that there was no chance of her ever going out with Trump–even if she wasn’t already spoken for. Soon afterward, a story appeared in the National Enquirer claiming that it was Trump who spurned Hayek–supposedly because Hayek is “too short.” The Donald is a close friend with David Pecker, the chairman and CEO of the Enquirer’s parent company, American Media.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Hayek claims that Trump had the nerve to call her after the article hit the press and ask, “Can you believe this? Who would say this? I don’t want people to think this about you.” She believed that call was a ploy to get her to go on a date with him “so people wouldn’t think that’s why he wouldn’t go out with me.”
If there’s something to this–and there’s every reason to believe that there is, based on Trump’s behavior–then this is incredibly petty, even by Trump standards. We already know that he has no qualms about body-shaming women, as evidenced by his shameful treatment of Alicia Machado. But it sounds like he’s not above saying, “If I can’t have her, I’ll make sure nobody will.”
Notice that Hayek never once mentioned Trump’s name, only calling him “that man.” She despises the Donald so much that she refuses to even mention him by name “because I don’t want to give him extra publicity.” You can hardly blame her. Hayek has been harshly critical of Trump’s bigoted comments about Latinos. She is a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter, and recently recorded this Spanish get-out-the-vote ad for Hillary.
Indeed, in her chat with Mandril, Hayek blasted the media for not focusing on one of the more obscene parts of Trump’s plan to build a wall along the border with her native Mexico–and stick Mexico with the bill. Hayek said that if Mexico doesn’t pay, Trump will shut down the flow of money from the United States to Mexico. Many Mexicans rely on money from across the border for their livelihood.
So first Trump trashes Hayek, then he tries to directly attack her native land’s livelihood. Yeah, that’s really presidential.
(featured image courtesy Georges Biard, available under a Creative Commons BY-SA license)
