NEW YORK — As fallout built over Donald Trump’s remarks about immigrants from Mexico, the Republican presidential candidate answered back with legal action to match his trademark brashness, filing a $500 million lawsuit.

The suit against Univision for dropping the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants claims breach of contract, defamation and First Amendment violations, and contends Univision turned on him because it supports Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton for president.

In a statement, Univision called Trump’s lawsuit “factually false and legally ridiculous.” It said it will “continue to fight against Mr. Trump’s ongoing efforts to run away from the derogatory comments he made.”

Univision, which moved last week to opt out of Trump’s pageants because of the celebrity businessman’s remarks earlier this month, is now far from alone.

By The Associated Press