Media mogul Soo Kim files racial discrimination suit against FCC: Not ‘right type of minority’

FIRST ON FOX – Media mogul Soo Kim filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing the Federal Communications Commission of derailing an $8.6 billion deal to buy Tegna Inc. as a result of of racial discrimination as a result of he was not the “right type of minority” for the FCC’s range targets. 

“I am suing the FCC because they need to be held accountable for racially discriminating against me. The disparate and unfair treatment in my case is undeniable and unnecessarily divisive. Every person appearing before the FCC deserves to be treated equitably,” Kim informed Fox News Digital.

Kim, a Korean American raised in New York, and his firm, Standard General, received a public bidding public sale to purchase Tegna and its 60-plus tv stations in 2022. Kim claims he was set to put in a feminine chief govt and the “transaction was poised to be a historic leap forward for both minority ownership and female leadership of broadcast stations” till the FCC nixed the deal in favor of Black media tycoon Byron Allen. 

“The FCC killed the deal… motivated by the belief that Mr. Allen’s black-owned company deserved greater solicitude than Mr. Kim’s Asian American-owned company,” the 120-page criticism, filed Wednesday in Washington, D.C., acknowledged. 

DR. PHIL SHUTS DOWN DEI GUEST ADVOCATING ‘EQUALITY OF OUTCOME:’ ‘BEEN TRIED, DIDN’T WORK, CALLED MARXISM’

Soo Kim filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing the Federal Communications Commission of derailing an $8.6 billion deal to buy Tegna Inc. as a result of of racial discrimination. (Fox News)

“The FCC makes no secret about the role race plays in its decisions. Race is a factor in deciding whether to approve broadcast license transfers. The FCC tracks broadcast ownership by the race of broadcast owners,” Kim’s attorneys wrote within the criticism earlier than noting that the FCC not too long ago reported to Congress that “advancing equity” is core to the company’s administration and policymaking processes.

“In this case, ‘advancing equity’ meant killing the chance for a Korean American, Soo Kim, to buy TEGNA’s more than 60 television stations because Byron Allen wanted them for his Black-owned media company. As far as the FCC’s diversity policies and practices were concerned, being Asian did not count. Mr. Kim’s race was used against him with pernicious stereotypes,” Kim’s attorneys wrote. 

“As for Mr. Allen, he never had a problem getting the FCC to quickly approve his license applications for his Black-owned media company – the right kind of diversity, according to Mr. Allen. In the years leading up to the TEGNA deal, the FCC quickly approved multi-billion-dollar deals where Mr. Allen’s company would benefit by taking some stations. But Mr. Allen wasn’t getting any stations in the TEGNA deal. As a result, the FCC dealt Mr. Kim and his company, Standard General, an entirely different hand than Mr. Allen,” the criticism acknowledged. 

“Objectors, organized by Mr. Allen and allies, parroted Mr. Allen’s widely publicized views that diversity for an Asian American-owned company like Mr. Kim’s was ‘sham’ diversity. They said the deal did ‘nothing’ to advance diversity in broadcast ownership,” the criticism continued. “FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, under the thumb of high-ranking Democrats in Congress, went along with it. Chairwoman Rosenworcel had her staffer kill the deal with a pocket veto without ever putting it before the other Senate confirmed FCC commissioners.”

Kim’s attorneys imagine the FCC violated “the twin commands” of the U.S. Constitution’s assure of equality that states “race may never be used as a ‘negative’ and that it may not operate as a stereotype” as a result of he was painted as a “shadowy foreign investor.”

“He was not the ‘right type of minority’ for the FCC’s diversity goals,” the criticism acknowledged. 

BYRON ALLEN OFFERS TO BUY PARAMOUNT GLOBAL FOR $14 BILLION

Media tycoon Byron Allen (Chance Yeh/for Allen Media Group/The Weather Channel / Getty Images)

The criticism acknowledged that Kim’s deliberate buy “would have created tremendous value” for Tegna shareholders” by paying a $24-per-share premium for a company that traded as low as $10 per share when bidding began in early 2020. It would have also “provided vital advantages to workers, guaranteeing three years’ job safety to newsroom employees and will increase to newsroom budgets,” according to the complaint. 

Kim accused the FCC of dragging its feet by taking over 300 days to take action on Standard General’s license-transfer applications for the Tegna stations before the deal was “killed” without notice. 

“Standard General was one of the most important shareholders, dropping practically $85 million primarily based on its 10.6 million shares owned when the deal died,” the complaint said. “The FCC chairwoman and her private staffer blocked the deal on the behest of Mr. Allen, who used enterprise allies and six-figure political donations to destroy Mr. Kim’s possibilities of buying TEGNA – to the tune of over $200 million in losses to Standard General and Mr. Kim and practically $2 billion in losses to TEGNA shareholders.”

TEGNA BUYS SAN DIEGO’S KFMB-TV, RADIO STATIONS FOR $325M

The lengthy filing details Kim’s complaints, including claims that high-powered Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., favored “longtime Democrat donor” Allen. 

The Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C., Aug. 29, 2020. (Andrew Kelly / Reuters Photos)

“Race was a damaging for Korean American Soo Kim, but it surely all the time appeared to work as a constructive for Byron Allen,” the complaint said. 

Kim is seeking “punitive damages to the fullest extent permitted by regulation,” along with attorneys’ fees, and a jury trial. 

The FCC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Allen Media Group owns TheGrio and The Weather Channel, among other media outlets. Last month, Allen’s media group made an all-cash offer for Tegna, Variety reported in a story posted on Allen’s website. 

Allen Media Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE