Al Sharpton was leading the woke Left long before anyone even knew woke existed.
But now Sharpton is on the hot seat.
And Al Sharpton may get canceled by the last group he ever expected.
Al Sharpton under fire
In mid-October, Al Sharpton conducted a softball interview with Kamala Harris on his MSNBC show.
At the time, the interview got little notice because everyone thought it was just the usual deal of a superfan at MSNBC interviewing the Democrat nominee for President.
But it was much more than that.
The interview looked like payola as federal campaign finance reports showed the Kamala Harris campaign paid Al Sharpton’s National Action Network $500,000 prior to Kamala’s appearance on his show.
“Harris’s campaign gave two payments of $250,000 to National Action Network on Sept. 5 and Oct. 1, according to campaign finance records,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
This revelation outraged the National Black Church Initiative, which counts 150,000 churches and 27.2 million members under its umbrella.
The group’s President Rev. Anthony Evans wrote that the payments to Sharpton made the groups “very concerned.”
Evans’ statement added that MSNBC should “launch an investigation” into this “growing scandal.”
And in an even bigger shocker called for “Rev. Sharpton’s suspension until the investigation is complete.”
The group took great offense to Sharpton’s organization collecting payment from a candidate prior to an interview.
Black church leaders call out Rev. Sharpton over accepting Harris cash ahead of interview
“This type of action puts a moral stain on the integrity of the Black Church,” the statement continued.
And the statement called out the hypocrisy on the Left for always droning on about threats to democracy and the free press when a compromised press is every bit the danger to democracy.
“In all the talk about the threat to our democracy, someone forgot to articulate that free, open, objective, and transparent press is an essential component of the building blocks to preserve our democracy’s integrity,” the group declared.
“Rev. Sharpton is loved and admired by many in our coalition, but that does [not] take away from the fact he is facing significant moral and journalism ethics [concerns] regarding this payment or donation to the National Action Network,” the group’s statement concluded.
Journalism professionals raised serious questions about whether Kamala Harris paid for a softball interview.
“This kind of entanglement harms the credibility of the journalist, the news organization, and journalism overall, and credibility is difficult to restore,” the Society of Professional Journalists said in a statement to the Washington Free Beacon. “While Sharpton may not consider himself a journalist, many viewers do.”
“When TV news broadcasters do not report their conflicts of interest, or conduct their work in ways that run counter to ethical journalism,” the statement went on, “it builds distrust among their audiences and places a black eye on both their network and the profession.”
Polls show record low trust in the media.
MSNBC’s ratings are cratering to record lows because viewers think the network misled them about the state of affairs in the 2024 election.
This Al Sharpton scandal will only cause further distrust in the media and drive more viewers away from MSNBC because it will be impossible to know if the news is pay for play.
