Free Republic

McDonald’s will have to defend itself against a $10 billion lawsuit from media mogul Byron Allen over an allegation that the fast food chain doesn’t advertise with Black-owned media. A federal court ruled last week said that Allen and his company, Allen Media Group, can try to prove in court that McDonald’s violated civil rights laws. Allen said in a press release that only a small portion — about $5 million of McDonald’s $1.6 billion annual advertising budget — goes to Black-owned media and that the company has “refused to advertise” on his networks, which include the Weather Channel and...

Nancy Pelosi is creating static over a deal to take a massive group of TV stations private — after she and fellow House Democrats got more than $500,000 in campaign donations from Byron Allen, a comedian-turned-media mogul who wants to block the deal. The House Speaker sent an Oct. 6 letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel expressing “serious concerns” about an agreement by Tegna — a publicly traded chain of 64 local TV stations that was spun off from newspaper giant Gannett in 2015 — to sell itself to the hedge fund Standard General for $8.6 billion. Meanwhile, Federal Election...

Chappaquiddick, the movie, is going to be released nationwide tomorrow, nearly 50 years after the actual incident nearly deep-sixed Teddy Kennedy’s political career. It might surprise you to know that there is an entire generation that has never even heard of Chappaquiddick let alone Mary Jo Kopechne1, including the movie’s thirty-something screenwriters Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan. “This is our first screenplay; it was something that we had been really passionate about since we first heard about Chappaquiddick. Which, despite being reasonably politically engaged people, I hadn’t heard of it until 2008 during the primary for that year’s presidential election…We...

p>I won't run through the usual litany of misdeeds. If you don't already know them by heart, you'll commit them to memory eventually when you finally tire of liberals screeching at you for "hating women" while holding this guy up as a secular saint. (Chappaquiddick material is abundant online, but this post will get you up to speed on another legendary incident.) I've got to say, in all sincerity: I appreciate their brazenness in building a convention around the theme of a "war on women" while not only inviting Bill Clinton to be a headline speaker but having a video...

On April 6, a bombshell will hit America's theaters. That bombshell comes in the form of an understated, well-made, well-acted film called "Chappaquiddick." (Full disclosure: They advertise with my podcast.) The film tells the story of Ted Kennedy's 1969 killing of political aide Mary Jo Kopechne; the Massachusetts Democratic senator drove his car off a bridge and into the Poucha Pond, somehow escaped the overturned vehicle and left Kopechne to drown. She didn't drown, though. Instead, she reportedly suffocated while waiting for help inside an air bubble while Kennedy waited 10 hours to call for help. The Kennedy family and...

“Chappaquiddick” tells the story of a relatively unknown scandal involving one of the most glorified families in American history: the Kennedys. So, it is not surprising that the cast, executive producers, and director felt some nerves taking on the project. For Byron Allen, Entertainment Studios CEO and co-founder and executive producer of the film, the pushback to tell this story came when he first decided to produce the film. “Unfortunately, there are some very powerful people who tried to put pressure on me not to release this movie,” Allen said. “They went out of their way to try and influence...

So the producer of the new film about Ted Kennedy’s Chappaquiddick scandal says some “very powerful people” tried to kill his movie. What a surprise — NOT! “Unfortunately,” Byron Allen told Variety last week, “very powerful people tried to put pressure on me not to release this movie. They went out of their way to try and influence me in a negative way.” Byron Allen is a TV comedian from the ’80s who has become a successful Hollywood mogul. He just bought what’s left of The Weather Channel for $300 million. By the way, he’s also black, so you would...

The Weather Channel TV network was sold Thursday — to comedian-turned-media mogul Byron Allen. Allen’s Entertainment Studios Inc. bought the 36-year-old TV staple from the Blackstone Group, Bain Capital and Comcast. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, but sources pegged the price at about $300 million. The network and its digital property — weather.com — were purchased by the trio 10 years ago for $3.5 billion. The web properties were sold to IBM in 2015 for $2 billion. “The Weather Channel is one of the most trusted and extremely important cable networks, with information vitally important to the safety...

Legendary TV talk show host Byron Allen went on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” Sunday to discuss his ongoing racial discrimination lawsuit against Comcast and Al Sharpton.He called Sharpton a “black pawn” perpetuating “financial genocide” on the black community, and bashed President Barack Obama for protecting donors that discriminate against blacks. ALLEN: Al Sharpton is not important. He’s nothing more than a black pawn in a very sophisticated white economic chess game. He’s being used by his white masters at Comcast and AT&T. He just needs to shut up and get in the bleachers. What we have to do is get the...

Allen also said media companies add insult to injury by throwing money at Sharpton, "the least expensive negro," to "cover" up their track record of "blatant" discrimination. "Instead of spending real money with real, 100 percent African American-owned media, it is easier to give [Sharpton] $50,000 to give them a cover," he said.