Ana Navarro slams Univision for softball Donald Trump interview: 'What the hell is going on?'

Navarro is one of many prominent voices who has questioned what happened behind the scenes with the interview.

The View cohost Ana Navarro has taken to social media to voice her displeasure with Univision's decision to shift its strategy around coverage of former President Donald Trump.

While Navarro praised the Spanish-language network for being "a good player in the Latino community," she raised concerns about its recent interview with Trump from his Mar-a-Lago residence. "It was a ridiculous interview," she said. "It was embarrassing. It was an interview with no pushback." The interview was conducted by Enrique Acevedo, the most-watched broadcast news anchor in Mexico.

"You would have thunk they were interviewing Barney the dinosaur. It was a love fest," she said.

Navarro also reminded viewers that Trump's 2016 presidential campaign began with him "playing the immigration card," and he "made it his habit to insult, target, otherwise Latinos and Latin immigrants. He has called our countries s---holes, has called Mexicans criminals and rapists." Among other invectives at that time, he suggested that, if elected, he would build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and make the Mexican government pay for it.  "The interview was a disgrace, journalistic disgrace," she added.

"To see the largest network, the most important network in the Latino community — Univision — giving this man a one-hour platform where there was no pushback, there was a ton of smiling faces. There were references by Donald Trump during the interview to his friends who were there from Univision, Univision executives. It's raised a lot of questions," Navarro said. "I don't know what the hell is going on in Univision, but I do think we need to talk about it. I do think we need to demand transparency and accountability from that very important and crucial network for the Latino community."

Navarro wrote on Instagram that she believes it's a good thing when both parties "and all candidates" are courting the Latino vote. "What we can't have though," she wrote, "is a lack of accountability for those that have come for our community, belittling and insulting us." She also notes that Trump had not, prior to this interview, granted an interview to Univision since 2015, when Jorge Ramos was thrown out of a campaign event.

Navarro continued to attempt to add nuance to her criticism, saying that she's heard Acevedo is a good person and a good professional while questioning why the interview wasn't conducted by one of the network's own anchors like Ramos. "It truly makes you wonder if there was some sort of order he was under to act that way," she said.

She also raised concerns that, at this same time, Univision canceled Joe Biden ads scheduled to run during the Trump interview and further canceled an interview with a Biden spokesperson scheduled to air after the Trump interview. Univision said it was the result of a new policy put into place shortly before the interview that prevents opposition advertisements during a single-candidate interview. The Washington Post first reported those cancellations.

"Then we find out that somehow Jared Kushner is involved in all of this and has been having conversations and getting friendly and cozy with the Televisa executives," Navarro said before sharing concern that TelevisaUnivision would potentially get chummy with Trump in case he wins the 2024 presidential election with the hope that he could ease restrictions on foreign individuals owning majority stakes in U.S. media networks.

Univision did not respond to a request for comment from EW.

"We are very worried about what a shift in ideology led by the folks from Mexican Televisa wanting to warm up to folks in America can mean for U.S. elections. So, this is the time to get active," Navarro concludes.

Navarro is far from the only prominent figure concerned about the shift in Univision's approach. Others, like actor and activist John Leguizamo, has called for a boycott of Univision over its handling of the interview. Navarro referenced Leguizamo's call in her video, but suggested viewers get informed, call, tweet, and ask questions of the company.

Additionally, the network's top anchor, León Krauze, left the company in the wake of the controversial interview, though a reason for his departure was not given. "After thirteen rewarding years, my journey with @Univision Noticias concluded yesterday," Krauze wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Krauze continued, thanking coworkers and viewers, but did not offer further thoughts about what happened at Univision around the Trump interview and did not cite it as an explicit reason for his departure.

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