Did you know that Sony Pictures Entertainment isn't the first corporation to reach
out to the Rev. Al
Sharpton for help with its image in the black community?
The
New York Times reported in November that records show “more than
$4.5 million in current state and federal tax liens against him and his
for-profit businesses”.
Sharpton operates like the mob and he’s been getting away
with it for years and
the New York Post reported Sunday that Sharpton allegedly gets paid to keep
from calling the companies racist?
Isn't this extortion?
Apparently Sharpton's National Action Network has received hundreds of
thousands of dollars over the past decade from companies to keep him quiet, the NY' Post said.
"Al Sharpton has enriched himself and NAN for years by
threatening companies with bad publicity if they didn’t come to terms with
him," National Legal & Policy Center Ken Boehm told the Post.
"Put simply, Sharpton specializes in shakedowns."
Sharpton apparently operates like this, Sharpton confronts a company
over accusations of racism. He then meets with company executives, who end up
contributing to NAN.
"Once Sharpton’s on board, he plays the race card all
the way through," the NY Post quoted a person it said has worked with
Sharpton as saying. "He just keeps asking for more and more money."
The NY Post cites a New York state inspector general's report
on Plainfield Asset Management, which in 2008 gave $500,000 to Education Reform
Now, which in turn gave the money to NAN.
The money was intended to promote "educational
equality," but it was given at the same time Plainfield was part of a
group, Capital Play, trying to build a racetrack and casino in Queens.
Plainfield denied the money was intended to keep Sharpton quiet, but a year later NAN was given another $100,000 from AEG, which had taken
over for Capital Play, as a battle over the company's licensing was brewing.
As reported in the NY Post, the inspector general's report cited an email between two
AEG employees in 2009 claiming that Sharpton had lobbied hard on the company's
behalf with then-Gov. David Patterson.
Sharpton has denied taking any action on the casino's
behalf, AEG saw its payments as a way of keeping Sharpton from criticizing them
and hurting their efforts, the Post quoted a person it said was familiar with
the situation as saying.
Many companies have paid NAN, including American Honda,
which was targeted by Sharpton in 2003 for not hiring enough minorities in
management. Two months later, the company met with Sharpton and began
sponsoring events put on by NAN. Sharpton's protests stopped.
In 2008 Sharpton also got a $25,000-a-year consulting job with Pepsi
after threatening a boycott because he said their ads did not include
black people.
General Motors for six years resisted Sharpton's requests
for money, but relented after Sharpton threatened a boycott over the closing of
a black-owned dealership in The Bronx.
Sony Pictures has not announced any donations to NAN after
meeting with the movie studio's co-chair Amy Pascal, but Sharpton also has not
given his support.
The recent hack of Sony Picture's computer system revealed
racially-tinged emails Pascal wrote wondering whether President Barack Obama
liked some of the company's movies – all of which were about African-Americans.
"I have had no discussion with her about money,"
Sharpton told The NY Post. "There was never even a remote discussion about
money."
But he did say soon after the meeting, "The jury is
still out on where we go with Amy."
If corporations wanted to ever stop playing along, they’d
have the Obama administration to deal with. Sharpton is an Obama advisor,
having paid more than 84 visits to the White House.
Sharpton operates under the guise of protecting and
supporting blacks while he enriches himself and dodges the IRS. Sharpton, with
ties to organized crime, has built his career on racial hatred and
divisiveness. He deserves to be in prison. Instead, he’s a White House advisor.
Al Sharpton has spoken about the false outrage of "White Privilege", yet it seems good old Al has the "Sharpton" privilege.
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