Tax returns show that controversial racial activist Rev. Al Sharpton gave himself $1 million from his own charity, the National Action Network, or NAN.
“Sharpton got a $324,000 salary — 32% higher than his 2017 pay — in addition to a $159,596 bonus and $563,352 in ‘other compensation,'” The New York Post reported Sunday.
According to a statement from NAN, Sharpton generously took $500,000 less than he was apparently “owed” from his work with the organization from 2004 to 2017.
The MSNBC host has been giving himself stunning raises and bonus for years. In 2015, for example, the Rev gave himself a 71% raise, thanks to a boost from President Barack Obama. That year, he took home $412,644 in salary from the charity and gave himself a $64,400 bonus for good measure. The following year, Sharpton topped his $250,000 salary with a $437,555 raise.
Sharpton defended his huge draw from the charity at his weekly rally at NAN’s House of Justice in Harlem, the Post reporting, noting that the events include attendees “throw[ing] cash in the collection bucket at the reverend’s behest.”
“Fifteen years, you are talking about since 2004 when I came back after running for president. For anybody else it would be laughable,” he sang his own praises.
“It’s a six-day-a-week job and several hours a day and when [the compensation firm] compared it to other companies, other non profits, that’s the salary that they would get,” Sharpton added.
The website for NAN describes the charity as “one of the leading civil rights organizations in the Nation” that “works within the spirit and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to promote a modern civil rights agenda that includes the fight for one standard of justice, decency and equal opportunities for all people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, citizenship, criminal record, economic status, gender, gender expression, or sexuality.”
As noted by The Daily Wire this summer, “Sharpton has been a lightning rod for controversy and has a history of inflaming racial tensions within minority communities. He played an essential role in promoting the Tawana Brawley rape hoax in the mid-1980s, an incident that is considered to be one of the most infamous rape and race hoaxes in modern America.”
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump called Sharpton a “conman” and suggested his past contact with the preacher was due to Sharpton’s insistence.
“Al Sharpton would always ask me to go to his events. He would say, ‘it’s a personal favor to me.’ Seldom, but sometimes, I would go,” Trump said. “It was fine. He came to my office in [Trump Tower] during the presidential campaign to apologize for the way he was talking about me. Just a conman at work!”
The president further ripped Sharpton in another tweet: “I have known Al for 25 years. Went to fights with him & Don King, always got along well. He ‘loved Trump!’ He would ask me for favors often. Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing. Must have intimidated Comcast/NBC. Hates Whites & Cops!”
Related: Trump Goes After ‘Con Man’ Al Sharpton Amid Baltimore Controversy: He ‘Hates Whites’