A California judge is allowing a black entertainment group led by Byron Allen to continue their lawsuit against McDonalds for not spending enough money advertising with the network. The lawsuit alleges that McDonalds does not give enough of their advertising budget to black entertainment, therefore McDonalds is racist.
Byron Allen is suing McDonalds for $10 billion, demanding reparations from the fast-food chain for not spending enough advertising with his company.
There’s gold underneath those arches. On its face this looks like the extortion business model of Al Sharpton dressed up in corporate media suits. It will be interesting to watch how this unfolds.
Sept 20 (Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp has been ordered by a U.S. judge to defend against media entrepreneur Byron Allen’s $10 billion lawsuit accusing the fast-food chain of “racial stereotyping” by not advertising with Black-owned media.
In a decision on Friday, U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin in Los Angeles said Allen could try to prove that McDonald’s violated federal and California civil rights laws by deeming his networks ineligible for the “vast majority” of its advertising dollars.
Allen accused McDonald’s of relegating his Entertainment Studios Networks Inc and Weather Group LLC, which owns the Weather Channel, to an “African American tier” with a separate ad agency and much smaller ad budget, depriving them of tens of millions of dollars of annual revenue.
While not ruling on the merits, Olguin cited allegations that Entertainment Studios had since its 2009 founding tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to obtain a contract from McDonald’s, whose “racist” corporate culture harmed Allen.
“Taken together, and construed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to support an inference of intentional discrimination,” Olguin wrote.
In a statement on Tuesday, McDonald’s lawyer Loretta Lynch maintained that the Chicago-based company viewed the lawsuit as “about revenue, not race,” and believed the evidence would show there was no discrimination.
“Plaintiffs’ groundless allegations ignore both McDonald’s legitimate business reasons for not investing more on their channels and the company’s long-standing business relationships with many other diverse-owned partners,” she said. (read more)
If a black media outlet can sue a corporation for not spreading their wealth, what precedent would this set?
“Allen accused McDonald’s of relegating his Entertainment Studios Networks Inc and Weather Group LLC, which owns the Weather Channel, to an “African American tier” with a separate ad agency and much smaller ad budget, depriving them of tens of millions of dollars of annual revenue.”
The entire US black population in the US is 13.6% of the total population. Assuming not every single black person watches ESN programming, the ESN market is probably very, very small.
The Weather Channel is a media dinosaur mortally wounded by twin asteroids: the Internet and the smart phone.
It makes sense McDonald’s, whose advertising campaign appears to be already tailored to the urban market on other media networks, would give lesser advertising priority to niche media networks which reach small viewer bases.
My only question is where the “African American tier” phrasing originates. Is that Allen ramming inflammatory words into the Hamburgler’s mouth, or was McDonald’s stupid enough to use such phrasing in internal company communications.
“In a statement on Tuesday, McDonald’s lawyer Loretta Lynch maintained that the Chicago-based company viewed the lawsuit as “about revenue, not race,” and believed the evidence would show there was no discrimination.”
Nevermind, the fix is in. McDonald’s will settle this out of court.
Is that Allen ramming inflammatory words into the Hamburgler’s mouth, or was McDonald’s stupid enough to use such phrasing in internal company communications?
Byron Allen aspires to be the new Hamburgler.
The Hamburgler snd his face mask . . .
“It makes sense McDonald’s, whose advertising campaign appears to be already tailored to the urban market on other media networks, would give lesser advertising priority to niche media networks which reach small viewer bases.”
Yes. It’s true. But it makes no difference. The extortion will continue…
<The extortion will continue…>
Yes. In this case, for the first time…
McDonald’s has real beef 🙂
The extortion will continue…until morale improves.
I would bet the “African American tier” is some subset of advertising money that McDonalds sets aside that is specifically ear-marked strictly for black owned advertisers. In other words, I would bet that McDonalds probably IS being racist, just upside down from this suit.
All those videos circulating of BGI (Black Greivance Industry) chaos in McDonald’s would seem to make avoiding them a fiduciary duty, not to mention the safety of their employees.
And I’m sure that was their game plan to start with!
Oh, I wish I could swear on CTH…
Never mind, Mari…I can hear you.
Just use $*^@!$%&(*
McDonalds should name a new burger after Byron.
“The McSkidmark”
Or their new bug based burger “The Big Bug Byron”.
The more I see, read or hear I feel that I should pay admission for the comedy show that is called “Western Civilization?”
If only it were just amusing.
Western Civilization (which has brought us modern medicine, the printing press, radio, television, and pocket computers that can reach just about anyone in the world) has become a giant doomsday cult intent on committing suicide.
Well, Germany and Great Britain are rethinking their short term efforts to commit suicide. But it is awfully late in the game to find enlightenment that will save them from themselves. And here in the States, we seem bent on demonstrating that we are the world leaders – at self immolation!
Oh, your PAYING, believe me!
Good point.
Not only will you pay admission, you already are.
Just another front in the attack on meritocracy.
Do the networks in question have sufficient viewership numbers to merit increased advertising?
If not, then why should McDs be required to increase advertising there?
Note, the lawsuit doesn’t say that McDs doesn’t buy any advertising on their network, just that they don’t buy more.
Does McDs spend more money advertising on networks with comparable viewership?
Because it is not your money! Your betters will decide the appropriate use of all moneys.
Verstehen Sie?
Only in L.A….
Things are getting weirder and weirder by the day. Who are these people?
“Only in L.A….”
Unfortunately, not true.
Amazing! There was a time that McDonald’s was accused of being racist FOR advertising in predominantly black areas on billboards, radio, and television.
The “judge” is a moron. There is no merit to this case. McDonald’s quit advertising on black media because they were accused of poisoning said people with their unhealthy food. They were racists for doing it. And, had they continued, it would have cost them billions in lawfare.
This is the goal – gut everything that you can. Destroy them with process. Get the Big Cut from the heist, and let the bones lie to bleach in the sun.
I think the judge was probably following the law. It’s the law that’s the problem, not the judge.
McD’s and all fast food chains are “on the chopping block’, anyway, its just a matter of time.
With rampant inflation, people are being forced to recognise the TRUE costs of “Convenience” as well as “Security”, both physical, medical and financial, as well as “prestige” and in the forced realisation, recognising “its just not worth it!”
I was also wondering about the %age of the black community compared to other non black communities that frequent McDonald’s.
If the non black community overall is a smaller %age wouldn’t McDonald’s want to increase their advertising on Those markets?
Will not other non white communities demand that advertising spending also be increased in their communities and on their channels?
Let’s to think about actually.
Then there is the issue of what’s wrong with being racist? The NY Times runs pieces discussing the merits of cannabalism, yet somehow forming an opinion based on someone’s race is truly heinous.
Of course, it comes from the Christian idea that all are created in the spiritual image of God, so have instrinsic worth. But most people now consciously or subconciously reject this origin of man (thus the origin of human rights).
So the folks so opposed to racism should be required to explain why, in their evolutionary model of survival of the fittest, racism is of any concern at all let alone such overwhelming concern.
The left is hollow, pushing perverted echos of a morality they don’t believe, don’t understand, and can’t follow.
Strawmen, push them over.
One of my favorite songs when driving in the car is “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke/Pharrel.
When I heard he had to pay Marvin Gaye’s heirs $7.3 million I found the song that they
supposedly ripped off from Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit “Got to give it up” – I thought the justice
system was crazy.
Then, of course, there was the OJ trial – need I say more?
And, the greatest testimony of our justice and legal system’s corruptness
comes from all the times they have tried to “stick it” to President Trump.
Maybe McDonald’s can just raise the Big Mac price to $72.14 and pay them off in hamburgers. All at once.
I thought the ‘reverend’ jessee jackson was the inventor of this approach?
Didn’t he get his son the chicago Anheuser Busch franchise in this way?
Coca Cola distribution, some car distributors as well.
Al Sharpton White House Visits with Obama Log. The list goes on and on……
Jesse HIJACKson and Al SHARPtongue pioneered race racketeering, BLM amplified extortion, there is no end meritless repatriation
LA judge. What would you expect?
Their pin head governor just approved human waste for composting………..there goes the lettuce!
Correction: human
wastebodies for composting….Isn’t it racist to call this blackmail.?
Would woke people find it more comforting to call this nefarious action “white male”?
So what’s the threshold ? You spent $0.50 less on X than you did on Y. You racisss, you give me $10 billion.
How is it not racist to even be able to push things like this? Racial issues are getting worse because of crap like this and BLM. This isn’t about equality, this is a fleecing.
This type of stuff along with all Obama brought forth with injecting race into every single thing is causing those who were never racist before to become jaded against these race baiting people. This is a suit brought to demand money as a special “reparations” type money grab. We are seeing it in hiring practices and firing practices as well.
More of the audacity of hope.
Touche!
Would the payment of “reparations” end racism?
Would it reduce racism?
If not, then when would reparations end?
As long as racism exists, there would continue to be a demand for additional reparations.
It would be endless.
As long as claiming racism yields financial benefits it will continue.
Consumer Reports is pushing insurance companies to base rates simply on driving records, because taking into account where a person lives is….. racist. Never mind that there are many other factors that go into risk that determine rates for individuals or areas, including crime rates, record of non-payment of bills, and even where a car is parked (on the street, out in the elements, or in an enclosed garage). They want to eliminate what insurance is and turn it into everyone paying the same rates regardless of risk – in other words, socialism. This has already been done with health insurance, and now they are going after car insurance. You will pay everyone else’s bills and be happy.
In Canada my insurance rates are higher as I use my vehicle to commute to work…my vehicle needs to be registered at the higher all purpose rate.
By the reason which is prescribed my rate should be the same as the part timer or non worker who bys insurance.
Many, MANY years ago when I first bought insurance to drive the insurance was not based upon a car, it was based upon me. ANY car I drove, mine or someone else’s was covered by my insurance so long as I was the driver. If a car registered to me was stolen or otherwise damaged when not being driven it was covered. It was great insurance.
The radical left hates meat. What better way to get to 0% usage than put Mickey D’s out of business.
It will be interesting to see if our legal system further abets this shakedown.
It will, 1530.
And you forgot the inverted commas.
“legal”
Blessings to you, sir.
Thanks for the reminder. Blessings to you also, ma’am.
“Taken together, and construed in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, plaintiffs have alleged sufficient facts to support an inference of intentional discrimination,” Olguin wrote.
…. so all the merits of the case are MADE UP, UNPROVABLE BS, confirmed right there in the judge’s statement. And yet the case proceeds. Some of us clearly are more equal than others…
hard to believe that this states a legal claim.
frivolous claims should be punished with a requirement to pay a multiple of the defendant’s legal and business fees.
McDonalds also didn’t buy any advertising, or buns, or frenchfries from ME. Or pay ME for construction of its restaurants. Or buy insurance from ME. And I didn’t get any ‘prizes” I liked – I wanted Flash Gordon, but the kids meals only had disney characters.
made me feel bad, so I require $10 Billion for each tome McDonalds did not pay ME, because I identify as ME !!!
Bring back da Mick Dee LT
We should just emigrate to the African nations and fix that continent up. Start over.
Reverse course.
China beat you to it
Just wait for Soros Schwaub and the gang to sell us to Africa to raise money for reparations payments….of couse they will have their brokerage fee.
I have often thought that we (conservative Christians for the most part) could go to Africa or Mexico (and let them burn it to the ground and salt the earth first) and with in a generation we would have the third world lined up at our doors begging to be let in. Now I think we would be better off to just swap places every 50 years and not deal with the mess of having to live with those not conservative and Christian. Of course I know this is not biblical or Christian but it would be easier to just hop around fixing everything the liberal, non Christian, and third world destroy (without their presence of course). But I kind of like fixing things as people are so much harder to fix…I know, I know only Christ fixes people.
I was 5’8″ but now I’m shrunk to 5’4″ .
Studies show tall people make more money, are CEO’s, get the attractive spouse, etc.
Seems to me this is raycists scrimination! Who do I sue ! THIS MUST STOP!
Short people of the world rise up!
Tall people get the wall!
sue all tall people for $10 billion.
Now we’re talking!
It’s Jesse Jackson’s rainbow coalition shake down being repeated. Why not? It worked then and will probably work again now.
Close every McDonald’s in California and every other predominantly African American location in the US. Two can play this game.
Only $10 billion? Why not demand that McDonalds, which already grovels before it’s Black customer base, give complete control of it’s assets to Allen and rename itself after George Floyd? These racial shakedown operations need to start thinking big.
the McFloyd Burger and floyd fries will sell well !!!
Does it come with a side of fentanyl?
Loretta Lynch Tapped to Defend McDonald’s From Discrimination ClaimsThe former attorney general is on the legal team representing the corporation against a discrimination lawsuit from Black former franchise owners.
September 11, 2020 at 12:51 PM
A deal will be made on a tarmac.
.
A lot of posters seem confused. This isn’t about WHERE McDonald’s advertises (what markets). This is about not giving a “black-owned” advertising agency its business (to place ads wherever).
This is nuts either way.
.
Since her return to private practice in 2019, Loretta has helped lead several of the most sensitive investigations and reputation-threatening litigation and regulatory enforcement matters in recent years. BlackRock retained Loretta to help lead an internal investigation into former staffers’ allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination. She has also recently co-led representations of Syracuse University in an independent review of its Department of Public Safety’s handling of bias-related incidents raised by students during the 2019/2020 academic year; North Carolina State University in an NCAA investigation concerning money and other benefits allegedly offered to a former student-athlete in violation of NCAA regulations; and a Fortune 50 energy company in an internal investigation regarding discrimination and retaliation claims. Loretta is currently representing the McDonald’s Corporation in three high-profile racial discrimination lawsuits. She also counsels a number of prominent companies on ESG-related matters.
As long as the checks clear, Loretta’s on your team.
“BlackRock retained Loretta …..”
All you gotta know
The history of the demise of Rhodesia and South Africa would be an instructive study at this juncture.
Lets start W.E.T. White entertainment television, then watch what happens.
Go for it. Maybe McD’s will go out of business in the process and stop poisoning people.
McBug will be worse.
“Would you like vaxines with that?”
The Courts have been used for over 50 years as the conduit to redistribute corporate and personal wealth as a ‘work around’ of the open and passionate American aversion to Socialism and Communism….
With the now mainstream acceptance of the tenets and implementation of Socialism (né Fascism) …. the direct consequence of the NEA’s and Collegiate’s fervor to indoctrinate our youth openly ….. we are now seeing lawsuits that don’t even attempt to hide their underlying intent to redistribute wealth under the guise of Civil Rights, Title XI and Title IX violations….
The Law used as a cudgel to force income redistribution where overt Legislation cannot.
This Suit should surprise no one here….
It is always about money and power…regardless of whether one has honorably earned same or not.
As an aside…despite the recent news regarding the USAFA’s effort to erase from their formal vocabulary the ascriptions “mom” and “dad”, I would hope that this might be the line in the sand which parents of these cadets are unwilling cross…if my young son were still there, you can bet that I would be having a conversation with his Command…..another effort by the Brass to demoralize their soldiers and create a military force filled with ‘Comrades’…
This is not the Country my forebears envisioned as they fought to defeat the Crown during the Revolution.
Excellent comment.
Not sure if McDonalds opened their damn mouths a couple years ago to placate the BLM terrorist campaign. But if so, I say reap the whirlwind. BTW is that Loretta “Tarmac” Lynch?
Yes, it is that Loretta.
🤔
I believe mickey D’s was also big supporter of hiLIARy too.
so yes, reap the whirlwind
Exactly. What did they think would happen?
If this lawsuit is won, whatever law is cited in it must be stricken down ASAP. If that’s a law against racial discrimination, then so be it. Think of a better way to minimize racial discrimination.
Two items
1. Didn’t the AA community attempt to sue McDs a few years back for ‘making’ them overweight and diabetic through targeted advertising?
2. Every morning my radio plays McDs ads that end with with the narrator whispering ‘bah dah buhd buhd dah’. To me, clearly targeting the black community.
In church no less.
When I read the headline in my email stack I thought at first that Harry and Meghan were up to some crap again.
I am get so VERY tired of people using the “R” word as blackmail. Kids even use it in school if they get caught doing something wrong, no matter how wrong what they did was. I’m talking kids in elementary school.
Shakedown.
There’s a name for when government decides who succeeds and who fails in business, It’s call FASCISM.
In my opinion, exactly what this is about.
Haven’t eaten at a McDonalds in years.
When they pay em off it won’t be with my money.
Here is another one I recently heard about:
“Starbucks sells coffee. But you can also think of Starbucks as a bank — and an unregulated one at that. As part of their rewards program, millions of Starbucks customers have preloaded money onto Starbucks cards, essentially loaning the company more than $1 billion at 0% interest.Feb 3, 2022″ courtesy of Google (deegoo).
Good.
Go Woke! Get Broke.
1) Nov. 09, 2021
The CEO acknowledges that he has a “very narrow worldview” that he is working to address. When asked by NPR how Kempczinski plans to expand that worldview, McDonald’s declined to comment.
Then
2) Sep 15, 2022
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told attendees that “our city is in crisis” at an Economic Club of Chicago event on Wednesday, referring to rampant crime in the Windy City.
1) https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1053882701/mcdonalds-ceo-chris-kempczinski-text-message-chicago-mayor-lori-lightfoot
2) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/mcdonalds-ceo-bemoans-crime-seeping-into-every-corner-of-chicago/ar-AA11SONJ
Bemoaning criminality is racist, rioting must intensify!
And the 2020 election fraud cases have been kicked out without a day in court.
This is unconstitutional to force someone to spend their money on you! Unbelievable!!!
So this guy is trying to do a Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton on Mikey D’s. If McDonalds caves to this extortion plot it will be the last time I eat a McDonalds.
Great. Good to know. Deleting Weather Channel now. Keep the info coming.
Refresh my memory…Why do business in California if this is how you’re going to be treated? Close all the California McDonalds, sell the Real Estate and move to business friendly states.
Class action lawsuit. $10 billion awarded. A free order of fries and a coke if you’re black. The remainder to the lawyers.
Jesse Jackson – Rule 1: Call them Racist and they will Pay.