Sharpton credits James Brown for career path

How much is Al Sharpton raking in for his new job as an anchor at MSNBC? Close to half $1 million, a source close to Sharpton told the New York Times.

Another good one: How did Sharpton, 57, go from the Tawana Brawley street activist rabble-rouser to the cable news talking head that he is today? Apparently James Brown had something to do with it:

The other day, in his new corporate office in Midtown, [Sharpton] said his model for this crossover act was... Mr. Brown.

“In the last 15 years of James Brown’s life, he wasn’t just playing the Apollo, but he was still singing the same songs,” Mr. Sharpton said. “So how do you go from the Apollo stage to Lincoln Center and still remain authentic? How do you translate soul to a Lincoln Center crowd?”

And just like that, Sharpton had a brand new bag.

Sharpton also lives a black-and-white life, according to the Times' profile:

He is up these days at 5:30 a.m., scanning a variety of news sources, including The Wall Street Journal and theRoot.com. By 7, he has e-mailed to his television staff — which is mostly white...

[...]

By 9, he is in his office at the National Action Network, his civil-rights group, ducking into meetings to manage that staff, too — it’s mostly black...

Read the full article here.