Chuck Ross of the Washington Free Beacon highlights one group’s concerns about a left-of-center media celebrity.
A black church organization is calling on MSNBC to suspend and investigate host Al Sharpton over donations his organization took from Kamala Harris’s campaign.
The National Black Church Initiative, a coalition that says it represents 27.7 million people and 150,000 black churches across the country, said Wednesday that the payment to Sharpton’s group “puts a moral stain on the integrity of the black Church.” The group, which said it is “very concerned” by the “growing scandal,” urged MSNBC to “launch an investigation” and expressed support for “Rev. Sharpton’s suspension until the investigation is complete.”
The Washington Free Beacon reported that the Harris campaign made donations of $250,000 on September 5 and October 1 to Sharpton’s National Action Network, the nonprofit he founded in 1991. Sharpton aired an October 3 segment featuring Harris on his MSNBC show PoliticsNation and conducted a favorable interview with her on October 20.
Founded in 1991, the National Black Church Initiative says it represents 27.7 million churchgoers across the country, with a mission of reducing “racial, social and … economic disparities” and preserving “the authority of the black church’s voice.” The group has focused on health issues pertaining to black Americans and has criticized Sharpton before for taking donations from tobacco companies while opposing a ban on menthol cigarettes, which are popular among black smokers.
The initiative’s president, the Rev. Anthony Evans, said 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,” Evans went on. “In addition, Rev. Sharpton is a minister of the Gospel. This payment does not look good for a man supposed to represent integrity.”
