MSNBC president Rashida Jones maintains especially close ties with host Al Sharpton and his activist group, raising questions about her silence on donations Sharpton’s group received from Kamala Harris’s campaign shortly before he interviewed the vice president.
Sharpton awarded Jones the National Action Network’s "Chairman’s Award" in 2021 and 2024, an accolade Jones lists on her biography. On Sept. 30, Jones introduced Sharpton at a National Action Network birthday party for the activist. "I am extremely honored to be here to honor Rev," said Jones, who ended her remarks with a hug and kiss on Sharpton’s cheek.
Jones’s close ties with Sharpton and his group may shed light on why she has yet to address the controversy around the Harris campaign’s donations to the National Action Network.
Harris’s campaign, which blew through $1 billion and ended $20 million in debt, made two separate $250,000 donations to Sharpton’s group on Sept. 5 and Oct. 1, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Shortly after receiving the donations, Sharpton aired a video segment on his MSNBC show PoliticsNation of Harris wishing him a happy 70th birthday. On Oct. 20, Sharpton conducted a favorable interview with Harris which she used to push campaign talking points. Sharpton did not disclose to viewers that the Harris campaign had just poured a half-million dollars into his charity.
Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly called the arrangement "irresponsible, unethical, and not allowed."
"I’m dying from the conflict of interest," Kelly said on her SiriusXM show. "It’s so egregious—MSNBC is going to have to respond."
But MSNBC has not weighed in. The network at its parent companies, NBCUniversal and Comcast, have ignored repeated requests for comment.
Comcast has its own close ties to Sharpton’s group. An executive at the company, former Obama White House official Broderick Johnson, spoke at National Action Network events in 2022 and earlier this year.
Comcast also enlisted Sharpton in 2010 to lobby on behalf of its bid to buy NBCUniversal, which operates MSNBC. The New York Times reported that the deal raised concerns about a quid pro quo after MSNBC hired Sharpton in 2011 to host PoliticsNation, a show that was immediately met with negative reviews due to Sharpton’s "booming bombast and near-obliviousness."
Sharpton has long been accused of using National Action Network to line his pockets and wield influence, including through his dealings with Comcast. In 2015, Byron Allen, one of the country’s most prominent black businessmen, sued Comcast, Sharpton, and other civil rights groups, alleging that the media giant entered "sham diversity agreements" with Sharpton and National Action Network in exchange for $3.8 million in donations.
Allen, who oversees a multibillion-dollar media empire, alleged in the lawsuit that Sharpton "has a business model and track record of obtaining payments from corporate entities in exchange for his support."
National Action Network, which Sharpton founded in 1991, has served as Sharpton’s personal piggy bank. Tax forms show National Action Network paid Sharpton $650,000 in 2021, and expensed $1 million for private jets and limousine services. The New York Post reported in 2018 that National Action Network purchased Sharpton’s life story rights for $531,000. Sharpton’s three daughters are also on the National Action Network payroll. The charity paid them a combined $154,420 in 2021, tax documents show.
MSNBC has punished hosts in the past for violating the company’s policies regarding relationships with political campaigns.
In 2010, then-MSNBC president Phil Griffin suspended host Joe Scarborough—now the host of Morning Joe—for making $4,000 in campaign donations years earlier, saying it "is critical that we enforce our standards and policies" regarding political donations from employees.
Griffin, who left MSNBC as president in 2021, also suspended liberal host Keith Olbermann in 2010 for making donations to three Democratic congressional candidates. The suspension sparked a standoff inside the network that spilled into public view. Griffin reportedly threatened to fire Olbermann, and the anchor’s colleagues expressed concern that he had damaged the network’s reputation.
"You don’t understand the pressure we’re under here," Griffin reportedly told Olbermann, who is now unemployed.