A Verizon government claimed the company has been getting threats over alleged race discrimination from Byron Allen — the litigious media mogul who owns the Weather Channel, The Post has discovered.
Allen — who just last month won a settlement in his $10 billion racial discrimination lawsuit against McDonald’s — has threatened a comparable go well with against the telecom giant after it backed away from a $15 million yearly promoting pact with his TV networks, sources said.
The 64-year-old comedian-turned-media government has likewise pledged to take out advertisements claiming Verizon, its CEO Hans Vestberg and Chief Marketing Officer Leslie Barland are all “racist,” according to a individual with direct data of the state of affairs, who said the threats were verbal.
Verizon claims that Byron Allen and his Allen Media Group are making legal threats after it said it was decreasing its advert spend. NBAE via Getty Images
But sources close to Verizon say the company believes the claims are without advantage — and that Allen’s threats quantity to an tried shakedown by his company Allen Media Group, also identified as AMG.
In an unique interview with The Post, Verizon’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel Joseph Ruggiero confirmed threats of a smear marketing campaign — and signaled that the company wasn’t backing down.
“AMG has made baseless threats to publicly smear Verizon and its executives unless we meet their demands,” Ruggiero said. “We will not tolerate these cynical pressure tactics.”
AMG allegedly threatened to call out Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg, who is pictured ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, in commercials, branding him as “racist.” REUTERS
Allen and AMG declined to remark.
Verizon execs discovered of the current threats through an industry exec with direct data, who also spoke to The Post on the situation of anonymity.
Multiple sources close to the state of affairs said the beforehand unreported dispute started in 2022 when Verizon had tried to negotiate a long-term promoting contract with AMG, which in addition to the Weather Channel owns a quantity of native TV stations and digital platform the Grio.
The new deal was to embody $15 million in annual advert spending.
Sources close to the state of affairs said Verizon intends to spend less on promoting with AMG in 2025 and 2026. MichaelVi – stock.adobe.com
Neither AMG nor Verizon signed the deal but Verizon continued to spend $15 million on advertisements, sources said.
Verizon claims it reviewed its finances and informed AMG it had to drastically scale back its spending by 30% and again next yr, bringing its yearly spending down to $5 million from $15 million.
The slashed advert finances was sparked by financial volatility and fluctuations in advert spending, said sources, who denied any variety of racial discrimination at Verizon.
That is “notwithstanding the fact that we have spent tens of millions of dollars with AMG over the years and have been supporting small businesses and driving economic development in the communities we serve for decades,” Ruggiero added.
Allen has a historical past of suing media corporations and claiming racial discrimination. Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
Indeed, just years earlier, in 2021, Verizon and AMG put out a splashy press release saying their partnership in a new range, equity and inclusion or DEI initiative, which took the kind of a Black-owned media summit. The objective was to increase media spending in US Black-owned media corporations.
“I’m very proud of Verizon, one of the largest advertisers in the world, coming to the table to make sure we have real economic inclusion for Black-owned media,” said Allen said at the time. “The biggest trade deficit in our nation is the trade deficit between corporate America and Black America, and we must close that gap immediately.”
Verizon’s then- Chief Media Officer John Nitti said his company has been “working to address diversity, equity and inclusion issues for years and we are proud of the actions we continue to take to move the industry forward.”
Allen not too long ago settled a $10 billion lawsuit with McDonald’s, in which he accused the restaurant chain of “racially stereotyping” by excluding Black-owned media from much of its promoting finances. Getty Images
Nitti is no longer with the company, and the political climate has modified under President Trump who issued an government order eliminating DEI applications for federal companies earlier this yr. The Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr said he would make eliminating DEI applications half of the approval course of for mergers.
In May, the FCC greenlit Verizon’s $20 billion merger with Frontier Communications, days after Verizon agreed to finish its DEI applications. Carr posted the letter on X at the time.
For his half, Allen settled a discrimination lawsuit in June against McDonald’s for an undisclosed quantity, The Post reported. Allen had sued the fast-food giant for $10 billion {dollars} in 2021, accusing it of “racially stereotyping” by excluding Black-owned media from much of its promoting finances.
Allen has largely prevailed in a slew of racial discrimination lawsuits filed against main gamers in media and promoting over distribution offers for his channels and advert gross sales.
In 2020, he reached a settlement with NBC mum or dad Comcast after a long legal battle that went to the US Supreme Court to rule on one side of the case. Allen also reached settlements with DirecTV in 2015 and Charter Communications in 2021.