The growing scandal plaguing MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton has been “ricocheting around the halls” of 30 Rock with his colleagues calling it a “bridge too far” for them, Fox News Digital has learned.
On Tuesday, MSNBC said it was “unaware” that Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign paid $500,000 to Sharpton’s National Action Network nonprofit ahead of a friendly interview with the Democratic nominee just weeks before the election.
“MSNBC was unaware of the donations made to the National Action Network,” an MSNBC spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon, which first broke the story.
Harris sat down for a friendly interview on Oct. 20 with Sharpton, an open supporter of Harris and the Democratic Party. Following Harris’ defeat to President-elect Donald Trump, FEC filings revealed the Harris campaign gave two $250,000 donations to Sharpton’s nonprofit organization in September and October.
However, the MSNBC weekend host did not disclose to viewers the apparent conflict of interest before or after the interview. Neither did he disclose the donations to his bosses at the network, according to the Free Beacon.
“No one’s surprised that anybody at MSNBC was rooting for Harris. This feels like another level of nonsense. Like, you’re kidding me, right? This is weird,” the current MSNBC employee reacted to Fox News Digital. “Harris could have given Al Sharpton an interview, and it would have gone the same way. But what are you paying for?… There’s no way that this can’t seem weird.”
“Everybody knows who Al Sharpton is… but this feels like a bridge too far. A big bridge too far… This is not landing well,” they continued. “This has a bit of a dirty feel to it… These things happen and they don’t bounce around MSNBC all that much. Like people just don’t care. This one feels, I’d say, there’s a deeper disappointment. There’s a sense of like, ugh, we don’t need this. This feels kind of grifty and gross.”
The insider says everyone at MSNBC knows Sharpton is given a “wide berth” and that he’s “not held to the same journalistic standard” as others at MSNBC since he’s far more known outside the network for his high-profile political and social activism. That said, the controversy reeks of a “pay-to-play” scheme.
“There is a sense among the people I’ve spoken to that this feels like something wrong and that something should be done about it,” the MSNBC employee said. “I don’t know what that something is… That’s a lot of money! That’s not a small matter… It just doesn’t sit well with people.”
They, however, cast doubt that Sharpton will face any consequences, telling Fox News Digital “Generally speaking, people do things and they kind of get away with them at MSNBC, I mean, other than in the Me Too era.”
“I don’t care whether somebody does something to Al. I’m more interested in where does this fit into who we are,” the MSNBC insider said. “How does this s— happen? How does half a million dollars change hands?… How can you possibly think you’re holding somebody to account in an interview when they donate money to you? We’re told not to take tickets to a ballgame!”
“It’s got a real bulls— feel to it. People who like Al and respect him and understand what his value is… it ranges from disappointment to disgust.
“Not a whole ton of surprise, I will tell you that,” they continued. “There are some organizational rules – I understand he has different rules, but they can’t be that, that you donate money and then you get an interview. That can’t be acceptable… I think a three-year-old would see a potential conflict in this.”
The MSNBC staffer was taken aback by the network being caught flat-footed by the controversy.
“For MSNBC to start by saying they weren’t aware of it to start with, like, wow. That’s something… Everything about this stinks,” they said.
“Like, why did the campaign not think that this would come out and be a really bad look for them? I mean, if Kamala Harris had become president, it’d be a scandal!… You’re not gonna sway my opinion for tickets to a ballgame but for half a million dollars? You might!”
“That kind of money should not be changing hands to people who are cosplaying being a journalist. Maybe that’s not a fair term because I don’t know, is he a journalist? I don’t know.
“But that just feels a little bit like pay to play and it doesn’t feel right In an organization that we’re all still part of. I understand that not everyone is held to the same standard, but there should be a set of common rules.
“And my understanding of this is that this would be breaking a rule… it feels like I couldn’t get away with that,” the employee added.
MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
