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President Donald Trump criticized MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton by sharing an old, unflattering photo of Sharpton in a Truth Social post on Sunday and calling for his show to face federal scrutiny.
Trump attacked Sharpton’s career, accused him of once being a Trump fan, urged the Federal Communications Commission to review Comcast and NBC for hosting Sharpton’s show and mocked its ratings.
“Then he got to know Brian Roberts, Chairman of Fake News NBC, who gave him what would become one of the Lowest Rated Shows in Television History,” Trump wrote.
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President Donald Trump criticized MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton on Sunday, mocking his career and his show’s ratings while claiming the anti-Trump pundit once was a “major” fan of his. (Sonia Moskowitz/Getty Images)
Along with the comment, Trump shared a photo of Sharpton from the 1980s, when he was considerably heavier. The image shows Sharpton wearing a bright red shirt, suspenders and a gold medallion.
Sharpton, the longtime civil rights activist and former presidential candidate, has undergone a dramatic weight loss over the years – from 305 pounds to 129 pounds, People Magazine reported in 2022.
Sharpton hosts MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” on weekends and frequently appears as a guest on “Morning Joe” and “Deadline: White House.”
Trump also claimed Sharpton, now a fierce Trump critic, was once a “major” fan of his. The two New York City natives have known each other for decades.
“I knew Al Sharpton for many years, not that it matters, but he was a major ‘TRUMP’ fan. He’d ask me to go to his fake Rallies all the time, because I brought BIG Crowds, and he couldn’t get anybody to come without me,” Trump wrote.
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Rev. Al Sharpton delivers a sermon during Sunday Chapel at Howard University Cramton Auditorium on October 9, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Brian Stukes/Getty Images)
Trump then mocked Sharpton’s career, referencing his role in the Tawana Brawley case, calling it “one of the worst low-level scams in history.”
Brawley was a New York teenager who falsely accused five White men of kidnapping and raping her in 1987. At the time, Sharpton served as an advisor to Brawley’s family and amplified her claims in the media.
Despite a grand jury deciding not to indict the men, Sharpton later told NPR in 2013 that he had no regrets for supporting her, saying, “What do I have to apologize for? I believed her.”
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Rev. Al Sharpton and Tawana Brawley. (John Pedin/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Trump continued, accusing Roberts, CEO of NBC News’ parent company, Comcast, of refusing to fire Sharpton because “it wouldn’t be ‘Politically Correct.’”
“This is just one of the many reasons that the Federal Communications Commission should look into the license of NBC, which shows almost exclusively positive Democrat content,” Trump said.
Comcast and NBC are currently completing the process of spinning MSNBC off to a new company, named Versant. Versant will be the new home for MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and the Golf Channel, among other assets, while NBCUniversal maintains NBC News, the NBC News Now streaming network, Telemundo and Bravo.
MSNBC did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
