ESN Advertising Suit 'Premeditated, Calculated' Cash Grab, McDonald's Says

The racial discrimination claims by Entertainment Studios Network (ESN) and founder Byron Allen regarding McDonald's advertising practices aren't about civil rights but are "a premeditated, calculated effort [by the plaintiffs] to increase the revenue [Allen] receives from McDonald’s and other major advertisers like McDonald’s," the defendant fast food chain said in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles Monday in a docket 2:21-cv-04972 answer to the third amended complaint. The reason it hasn't purchased ad time on an Entertainment Studios network is not because Allen is black but because ES properties don't satisfy the selection criteria used by McDonald’s advertising agencies, it said. It said while it didn't buy ad time on the Weather Channel after Allen bought it in 2018, it also didn't buy ad time there prior to that deal. In the amended complaint, ESN said McDonald's has a practice of buying ad time on similarly situated white-owned networks with similar programming and that target and reach similar demographic groups.