The Rev. Al Sharpton and his National Action Network had their silence bought — with a hefty $3.8 million in “donations’’ — to not complain about the lack of black TV programming, according to an explosive new lawsuit filed by a national black-media group.
The Association of African-American Owned Media charges that Comcast and Time Warner carry barely a handful of channels that are completely black-owned — and Sharpton and other key African-American advocacy groups aren’t screaming about it because they were essentially paid not to.
Comcast even sweetened the deal for Sharpton by allowing him “to maintain his hosting position [on the Comcast-co-owned MSNBC] for more than three years in exchange for Sharpton’s continued public support for Comcast on issues of diversity … despite the notoriously low ratings that Sharpton’s show generates,’’ the suit says.
Sharpton blasted the suit Monday as “frivolous at best.’’
He denied to The Post that he and NAN received nearly $4 million from Comcast, insisting,“Never, did not get it.’’
The activist said that while his group has gotten some donations from the media giant, “It’s nowhere near $1 million, much less $3 million.’’
Read more: Sharpton paid to keep quiet about lack of black TV programming: suit
