McDonald's is facing a $10 billion lawsuit from a media mogul who claims the fast food giant failed to advertise with Black owned media.
Allen and his company will argue in court that McDonald's violated civil rights laws after a federal court judge found that oral argument was not enough to resolve the case.
Allen claimed that McDonald's spends just $5 million of its $600 million annual advertising budget on African American owned media, and has refused to advertise on his networks, which include the Weather Channel and Comedy.TV.
The media mogul accuses Mcdonald's of relegating his TV networks to an African American tier that has a smaller budget.
Allen said in the press release that it was about economic inclusion of African American-owned businesses. Mcdonald's takes billions of dollars from African American consumers. McDonald's is guilty of contributing to the trade deficit between White corporate America and Black America.
He said the economic exclusion needs to stop immediately.
Lynch told CNN that Allen's claims weremeritless.
"McDonald's legitimate business reasons for not investing more on their channels and the company's long-standing business relationships with many other diverse-owned partners are ignored by the lawsuit," said Lynch.
McDonald's did not reply to Insider's request for comment.
According to Allen's legal counsel, McDonald's has engaged in racial discrimination in violation of federal and state laws. The jury will award significant damages because of the injustice that has happened here. We are anticipating our day in court.
The case is expected to be heard in May.
The owner of 14 Mcdonald's franchises in Ohio filed a lawsuit against the restaurant chain, accusing it of discrimination. 52 Black former McDonald's franchisees filed a complaint in 2020 accusing the fast-food giant of discrimination.
McDonald's will increase advertising with Black-owned companies from 2% to 5% of its total budget in the next five years.
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