Byron Allen‘s $10 billion discrimination lawsuit against McDonald’s is going to trial.
On Nov. 30, U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin ruled that McDonald’s possibly violated by placing Allen’s networks in low-tier ad spots meant for content aimed at Black audiences, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Allen, who owns one of the largest cable network portfolios in the industry, believes that “overwhelming evidence” exists to support his claim.
“It is time for the McDonald’s Board of Directors, stockholders, and civil rights organizations nationwide to call for the resignation of CEO Chris Kempczinski, who was caught sending racist text messages about Black and Hispanic people,” he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Allen filed legal documents against McDonald’s a month after its CEO Chris Kempczinski allegedly sent messages to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot in which he blamed the parents of two Black and Latino kids for their deaths. Jaslyn Adams was fatally shot while sitting in a McDonald’s parking lot with her father.
“The parents failed those kids which I know is something you can’t say,” Kempczinski wrote in 2021. “Even harder to fix.”
Allen’s lawsuit accuses McDonald’s of breaking federal and state civil rights laws that prohibit racial discrimination in contract negotiations. It centers on claims that McDonald’s uses a multi-tiered system for purchasing ads. In addition, its general market budget was allocated by advertising agency OMD Worldwide to white-owned media from 2006 to 2021. A separate account with a much tighter budget reserved for Black-targeted content was managed by Burrell, a Black-founded and Black-owned agency.
Allen’s chief revenue officer Darren Galatt, who is expected to testify, claimed they were excluded from OMD’s advertising contracts. Internal emails show that OMD executives told Entertainment Studios and The Weather Channel to go through Burrell for McDonald’s ads.
For instance, OMD’s chief investment officer Chris Geraci wrote, “I have been trying to help to get you more business beyond Hershey, and I know that PepsiCo is considering. McDonald’s will consider, but not through OMD.”
On top of that, OMD Worldwide director Deborah Innes emailed the following to Galatt: “Just a reminder that Burrell is the agency of record for McDonald’s and Entertainment Studios.”
McDonald’s has denied the allegations: “We are prepared to show that this case is utterly baseless,” the fast food chain statement, per The Hollywood Reporter. “McDonald’s invested in media properties that aligned with the company’s business strategy and, like any other rational business, declined to invest in those that had low ratings or failed to reach the company’s target audiences.”
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