Trump's Miss USA pageant plummets in ratings

Donald Trump may be bigger than any particular network, corporate partner or golf tournament, which has wanted to sever ties with him, but the Miss USA pageant sure isn't.

The Nielsen company said that only 925,000 people watched Olivia Jordan, of Oklahoma, crowned as Miss USA on the Reelz Channel, sharply down from the 5.6 million people who watched last year on NBC.

In records that date back to the 1970s, the pageants had ranged from 4.6 million viewers in 2013 to 38.1 million in 1979.

Trump purchased the pageant in 1996.

* Multichannel.com, meanwhile, reported that Miss USA generated more Twitter usage than any TV show Sunday night, according to Nielsen. The pageant drew a unique audience of 2.4 million Twitter users, according to Nielsen.

So, approximately 1.5 million more people tweeted about the pageant than actually watched it.

This strikes Tattle as a potentially troublesome business model.

NUMEROUS Hollywood celebrities are criticized for talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

Environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio is walking the walk.

The actor's foundation announced yesterday that it has awarded $15 million in grants to a host of environmental organizations, including Amazon Watch, Save the Elephants, Tree People and the World Wildlife Fund.

"The destruction of our planet continues at a pace we can no longer afford to ignore," DiCaprio said in a statement. "We have a responsibility to innovate a future where the habitability of our planet does not come at the expense of those who inhabit it."

The groups receiving the grants are "working to solve humankind's greatest challenge," he said.

DiCaprio, 40, started his foundation in 1998, a year after "Titanic" came out, to fund efforts that protect the planet and its endangered species. It now supports such projects in more than 40 countries.

Last year, the United Nations named DiCaprio a UN Messenger of Peace, with a special focus on climate change.

* Can we maybe call them Onesie Direction?

Louis Tomlinson is going to be a dad and many fans are not taking the news well.

Because Louis, you know, is their boyfriend.

The baby's mother is stylist Briana Jungwirth, who, according to a People magazine source, is not Louis' girlfriend but an extremely close friend.

Well, she was extremely close at least once.

"Louis is happy and very excited about becoming a dad and he thinks Briana will be an amazing mother," the source said. "It was a surprise at first, but he and Briana are very, very close friends and this has brought them even closer."

Louis split with longtime girlfriend Eleanor Calder in March.

* A plan to sell off the New York City Opera's name and other assets has been withdrawn.

The Wall Street Journal says the decision by the defunct opera company's board follows months of legal maneuvers between two bidders who both hope to revive the company.

An option being considered is to reorganize the company through the bankruptcy process, with one of the bidders serving as a plan sponsor.

That could make it easier to retain a bequest worth an estimated $5.5 million.

The company shut its doors in October 2013.

It launched the careers of such luminaries as Beverly Sills, Placido Domingo and Renee Fleming.

* Lena Dunham is out to conquer a new medium.

The "Girls" star and creator is launching a new lifestyle project.

Starting in the fall, People magazine reports, Lena and and her "Girls" showrunner, Jenni Konner, will begin sending out an email newsletter that promises "feminism, style, health, politics, friendship and everything else."

Lena said on Instagram that the project would be called "Lenny."

* Although reports yesterday indicated that doughnut-licker Ariana Grande might face charges for her nighttime icing-capade, Joe Marin, owner of Wolfee Donuts, in California, told the Canadian radio show Roz & Mocha, graciously listened to by USA Today, that he hasn't dropped charges against Ariana, after the "Problem" pop star was caught on security cameras tonguing donuts displayed on the counter.

"I've been hearing that I decided not to press charges," he said. "I don't know where that came from . . . I did press charges."

So what happens if Ariana is found guilty?

What's the punishment for serial doughnut-licking?

You get thrown in the hole.

- Daily News wire services

contributed to this report.

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