Kevin Adell, the controversial TV and radio owner, got hit hard by a Detroit federal jury on Wednesday.
The jury awarded Bishop George Bloomer, who is Black and from North Carolina, $62.2 million in a lawsuit in which he accused Adell of race discrimination, harassment and retaliation in a case involving an offensive meme, Robert Snell of The Detroit News reports.
The meme shows Adell's face superimposed on a doctored photo, dressed like a pimp in a white fur coat and white hat, standing with four pastors from The Word Network, which Adell owned.
Bishop Bloomer, who had a show on The Word Network, sued in October 2022, three years after accusing Adell, 59, of Bloomfield Hills, of sending the meme that included Bloomer among the pastors.
After a five-day trial, the jury deliberated for one day. Adell's portfolio once included WADL-TV 38, 910-AM Superstation and The Word Network, The News reports.
Mort Meisner, a spokesman for Adell, simply told Deadline Detroit "no comment." Adell did not respond to a text message for comment.
The sale of WADL-TV (Channel 38) to Mission Broadcasting in a deal worth $75 million was approved by the Federal Communications Commission in April 2024.
The News reports:
The federal government sued Adell over millions of dollars in what it describes as unpaid taxes in 2023. That case is pending and alleges the longtime leader of 910AM Superstation and the Word Network, the world's largest African American religious network that reaches more than 200 countries, spent years failing to pay sums related to his late father’s estate.
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