The Rev. Al Sharpton, National Urban League, Comcast and Time Warner Cable have been hit with a $20 billion lawsuit that accuses the parties of racially discriminating against black-owned media outlets.

According to Deadline, although the FCC has yet to rule on the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the suit, which was filed last week by the National Association of African-American Owned Media (NAAAOM), claims that the two media giants discriminate against black-owned media.

It also accuses Sharpton and his National Action Network of accepting $3.8 million in "donations" in order to keep quiet about the lack of black TV programming on the network.

"Defendants intentionally agreed and conspired with each other to discriminate on the basis of race against 100 percent African-American-owned media in connection with contracting," states the complaint filed Friday in federal court, "Defendants NAACP, National Urban League, Al Sharpton, National Action Network and Meredith Attwell Baker acted as co-conspirators by accepting cash payments, jobs and other favors from Comcast in exchange for their public support and approval of Comcast's racist policies and practices in contracting for channel carriage."

In addition to the payoff, the suit accuses Comcast of bribing Sharpton by allowing him "to maintain his hosting position [on the Comcast-co-owned MSNBC] for more than three years in exchange for Sharpton's continued public support for Comcast on issues of diversity ... despite the notoriously low ratings that Sharpton's show generates,'' according to The New York Post.

"In exchange for these payouts and other favors, Defendants NAACP, National Urban League, Al Sharpton and his National Action Network agreed to enter into sham 'diversity agreements' -- MOUs -- for the purpose of facilitating Comcast's racial discrimination in contracting."

The Association of African-American Owned Media also notes Comcast and Time Warner only carry a handful of channels completely black-owned.

In response, Sharpton blasted the suit on Monday, calling it "frivolous at best.'' He also denied he and NAN received nearly $4 million from Comcast. Instead, he said his group received less than $1 million in donations from the media giant.

Sharpton also insisted his show is getting great ratings.

He said he "welcomes the opportunity to answer the frivolous allegations" and said he will file a countersuit for defamation.

Comcast also released a statement, saying, "We do not generally comment on pending litigation, but this complaint represents nothing more than a string of inflammatory, inaccurate, and unsupported allegations," reports The Hollywood Reporter.

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