Fox News Digital has learned that the growing scandal plaguing MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton is “circling the halls” of 30 Rock and his colleagues are calling it a “bridge too far” for him.
On Tuesday, MSNBC said it was “unaware” that the Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign paid $500,000 to Sharpton’s National Action Network nonprofit Preceded by a friendly interview with the Democratic candidate a few weeks before the election.
An MSNBC spokesperson stated, “MSNBC was unaware of the donation to the National Action Network.” Washington Free BeaconWho broke the story first.
Harris sat down for a friendly interview on October 20 with Sharpton, an open supporter of Harris and the Democratic Party. After Harris’s defeat to newly elected President Donald Trump, FEC filing It was revealed that the Harris campaign had made two $250,000 donations to Sharpton’s nonprofit in September and October.
However, the MSNBC weekend host did not disclose his apparent conflict of interest to viewers before or after the interview. Nor did he disclose the donations to his masters at the network, according to the Free Beacon.
“No one was surprised that anyone at MSNBC was supporting Harris. This seems like another level of bullshit. Like, you’ve got to be kidding me, right? This is weird,” the current MSNBC staffer responded on Fox News Digital. “Harris could have given an interview to Al Sharpton, and it would have been the same way. But what are you paying for?… There’s no way it doesn’t sound weird.”
“Everyone knows who Al Sharpton is… but this seems like a bridge too far. A big bridge too far…it’s not landing well,” he continued. “There’s a little bit of a dirty feeling to it…these things happen all the time and they don’t jump around as much as MSNBC. Like people don’t care. It seems, I would say, a deep disappointment. There’s a feeling of, uh, we don’t need this. “It seems kind of disgusting and gross.”
The insider says everyone at MSNBC knows that Sharpton has been given a “wide berth” and is “not held to the same journalistic standard” as others at MSNBC because of her high-profile political and social activism. Far more known for outside the network. That said, this controversy smacks of a “pay-to-play” scheme.
“The feeling among people I’ve talked to is that this is something wrong and something needs to be done about it,” the MSNBC staffer said. “I don’t know what that thing is…that’s a lot of money! This is no small thing…people don’t like it.
However, he expressed doubt that Sharpton would face any consequences, telling Fox News Digital, “Generally speaking, people do things and they get away with them in the MSNBC, I mean, Me Too era. except.”
“I don’t care if anybody does anything to Al or not. “I’m more interested in where it fits into who we are,” the MSNBC insider said. “how does this work? How does that turn into five million dollars?… When someone donates money to you how can you think you are holding him accountable in an interview? We’ve been told not to get tickets to the ballgame!”
“This is a real bull – feel it. People who like Al and respect him and understand what he’s worth… it ranges from disappointment to disgust.
He added, “Not too many surprises, I’ll tell you that.” “There are some organizational rules – I understand they have different rules, but they can’t be like, you donate money and then you get an interview. This cannot be acceptable… I think a three-year-old child would see potential conflict in this.
The MSNBC staff was stunned that the network had become embroiled in this controversy.
“For MSNBC to start off by saying they didn’t know about it, like, wow. It’s like … everything about it stinks,” he said.
“Like, why didn’t the campaign think that this would come out and look really bad for them? I mean, if Kamala Harris had become president, it would have been a scandal!… You’re going to sway my opinion, not for tickets to a ballgame, but for half a million dollars? You might!”
“This kind of money should not be given to people who are pretending to be journalists. Maybe that’s not the right word because I don’t know, is he a journalist? I don’t know.
“But it feels a little bit like paying to play and it doesn’t feel right in an organization that we’re all still a part of. I understand that not everyone is held to the same standard, but there should be a set of common rules.
The employee continued, “And my understanding of it is that this would be breaking a rule… It seems like I can’t get away with it.”
MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
