US judge gives go-ahead for ad discrimination lawsuit against McDonald's 

A discrimination case alleging McDonald's refuses to advertise on Beck-owned media networks has received a go-ahead signal from a federal judge.

In a complaint first filed in May 2021, black media entrepreneur Byron Allen charged the fast food giant with using a racially biased contradicting method.

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The lawsuit, however, was dismissed by a federal judge in December as the accusations were not adequately supported. The same judge on Friday rejected McDonald's bid to dismiss the case, allowing it to proceed after a protracted legal dispute.

AFP reported that Allen, owner of Entertainment Studios Networks and the Werther group, claimed that McDonald's created a "two-tiered, race-based system and shut plaintiff out of the general market (i.e., white-owned media) tier," AFP reported.

Furthermore, Allen argued that McDonald's has a separate advertising agreement with an agency for "African-American media" with the intention of spending a minimum amount of money compared to its general budget.

Allen claimed that his company produced content for diverse viewers, particularly after buying the Weather Channel in 2018 and that McDonald's had run advertisements on similarly positioned white-owned networks.

Loretta Lynch, the current partner at the legal firm, Weiss, defendingMcDonald, said that Allen's lawsuit is about revenue, not a race. She further claimed, "plaintiffs' groundless allegations ignore both McDonald's legitimate business reasons for not investing more in their channels and the company's long-standing business relationships with many other diverse-owned partners," AFP reported.

The decision in this legal battle is yet to be declared. However, the fast food giant has been reported to be denying the accusations imposed by Allen.

(With inputs from agencies)

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