MSNBC host Reverend Al Sharpton is no stranger to controversy, as the revelation of a scheme called “Play to Play” casts a long shadow of scandal in his wake.
MSNBC reported last week that Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign announced that Sharpton's nonprofit National Action He admitted that he was “not aware” that he had paid the network $500,000.
After Harris lost to President-elect Donald Trump, FEC submissions The Harris campaign revealed it made two $250,000 donations to Sharpton's nonprofit organization in September and October. However, the MSNBC weekend host did not disclose to viewers the apparent conflict of interest before or after the interview. According to the Washington Free Beacon, which reported the story, he also did not disclose the donations to his network bosses.
Sharpton's 'pay-to-play' scandal ripples through the halls of MSNBC; officials say it's 'unacceptable'
MSNBC host Reverend Al Sharpton has a history of scandal and controversy, far beyond the latest “pay-for-play” allegations. (Brian Stukes/Getty Images; Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images; Screenshot/MSNBC)
It is well known that Mr. Sharpton has a political side, openly supporting Ms. Harris and the Democratic Party, and even speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. But the six-figure deal between his group and the Harris campaign is a “bridge too far” among his colleagues at MSNBC, according to network officials.
It is unclear whether Sharpton will face any consequences for this blatant conflict of interest, but it is the latest scandal to face the outspoken activist. These are some of the controversies he has been embroiled in over the decades.
tax trouble
Mr. Sharpton has built a reputation for acting quickly and freely when it comes to taxes. In 1993, he admitted failing to file a 1986 tax return in exchange for two felony charges being dismissed.
In 2008, it was revealed that Sharpton had paid a staggering $1.5 million in back taxes.
new york times outlined his other financial problems Over the years. In 1990, he was accused of stealing a whopping $250,000 from a group of young people, but was acquitted of the felony charge. Three years later, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a state income tax return. One of his commercial businesses, Raw Talent, also went bankrupt after failing to pay taxes for several years.
The New York Times reported in 2014 that “current state and federal tax liens against him and his commercial enterprises exceed $4.5 million, according to records reviewed by The New York Times. ”.
MSNBC was “unaware” of the Harris campaign. Donated $500,000 to Al Sharpton's group ahead of friendly interview
Promoting the Tawana Brawley rape hoax
Despite his high-profile stint at MSNBC, Sharpton is perhaps best known for rallying behind notorious rape fraudster Tawana Brawley.
In 1987, Brawley, a 15-year-old black girl, disappeared from her New York home for four days before claiming she had been kidnapped and raped by a group of white men. She was covered in feces and had racial slurs written all over her body.
Sharpton was one of her closest aides and her most vocal defenders, stirring up racial tensions across the country in the process. A grand jury ultimately found her claims to be false.
Sharpton himself was sued for defamation by one of Brawley's accusers and ordered to pay $65,000 in damages. His supporters ended up paying for it years later, after Mr. Sharpton claimed he didn't have the money.
Pastor Al Sharpton was the biggest promoter of the Tawana Brawley rape hoax. (Jon Pedin/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
To this day, Sharpton does not regret defending Brawley.
“There is no evidence that I was misled,” Sharpton said in a January 2023 interview. “My position was that this allegation from this young woman was really problematic behavior by some of the people she accused.”
history of antisemitism
The prominent activist has a long and disturbing record of anti-Semitism.
In 1991, Mr. Sharpton defended Leonard Jeffries, a City University of New York professor who provoked outrage with a speech targeting “wealthy Jews” who had financed the slave trade and controlled Hollywood. “We created a system of destruction for black people,” he said. He responded to this controversy by saying, “If the Jews want to do that, tell them to pin up their yarmulkes and come to my house.”
Kamala Harris' interviewers received large campaign donations for their group ahead of sit-in
That same year, Sharpton incited an anti-Semitic mob after a Jewish man tragically struck a 7-year-old black boy with his car in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
At the boy's funeral, Ms Sharpton said: “The world will say he died in an accident. Yes, this was a social accident. Allowing an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights is an accident… South Africa. Tell me about Oppenheimer's situation.'' We ship the diamonds directly to Tel Aviv and work with diamond sellers here in Crown Heights. ” When he called “diamond merchants” he was referring to Jewish jewelers. He also led protests that included chants such as “Kill the Jews!” and “If there is no justice, there is no peace!”
The riot resulted in the stabbing of rabbinic scholar Yankel Rosenbaum by a black teenager.
Pastor Al Sharpton sparked racial tensions targeting the Jewish community in Crown Heights after a black child was fatally hit by a Jewish driver. (Daily News Archive (via Getty Images))
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The incident was investigated, but no charges were filed. But after the Jewish man immigrated to Israel, Sharpton rushed to the Jewish state to hunt him down. According to the New York Daily News, a woman who spotted Sharpton at the airport told her to “go to hell,” to which Sharpton responded, “I'm already in hell. I'm in Israel.”
In 1995, Mr. Sharpton called out Jewish store owners in Harlem after the building's owner, a black Pentecostal church, raised the store owner's own rent and then the store owner raised the rent of a black subtenant. “White intruders,” he called them. Sharpton and the National Action Network organized weeks of protests that ended in a shooting spree that left seven people dead and a Jewish store owner's store burnt down.
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