A Black church coalition is walking back its call for MSNBC to suspend and investigate Rev. Al Sharpton after his nonprofit accepted $500,000 in donations from Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign.
A week after writing that Sharpton's actions put a "moral stain on the integrity of the Black Church," the National Black Church Initiative reversed course, calling its earlier statement "inappropriate" and saying it regrets the "misstep."
The Washington Free Beacon broke the news that the Harris campaign had made two donations of $250,000 to Sharpton's nonprofit National Action Network. The donations, made on Sept. 5 and Oct. 1, came ahead of a friendly interview Sharpton conducted with Harris on Oct. 20.
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The National Black Church Initiative slammed Sharpton in a statement shared on its Facebook page last Tuesday, saying the payment raised "significant moral and journalism ethics" concerns. The coalition, which says it represents 150,000 churches across the country, said it would "support Rev. Sharpton's suspension" until an investigation was complete.
But this Monday, the initiative retracted its earlier statement, writing in part that it was "unaware of the existing contract or agreement with Black organizations including Rev. Sharpton's National Action Network to conduct non-partisan Get Out the Vote (GOTV) efforts ahead of the election."
"We recognize the critical importance of this work. After further research, we have found no evidence that any candidate paid for support or endorsements, nor that NBC was engaged in any partisan political activities related to Vice President Harris' appearance on PoliticsNation. Furthermore, we understand that Vice President Harris has made previous appearances on PoliticsNation with Rev. Al Sharpton over the years," the statement continued.
The National Black Church Initiative did not respond to emailed questions about the reversal. MSNBC, Sharpton and the National Action Network also did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
MSNBC suspended Joe Scarborough and Keith Olbermann in 2010 over political donations. The network previously told the Free Beacon it was "unaware of the donations" made to Sharpton's nonprofit, but did not say whether the host had been reprimanded.
