It’s getting nastier between Black media mogul Byron Allen and the world’s biggest fast-food chain.

It was already plenty contentious. Last year, in a $10 billion federal lawsuit, Allen alleged that when it comes to allocating advertising dollars, McDonald’s runs a racist operation that echoes the “whites only” system of the Jim Crow era. He said McDonald’s had a “two-tiered” spending operation that disadvantages Black-owned businesses like his Allen Media Group. McDonald’s denied the charges and said Allen’s gripes about its ad spending stem from his media properties’ “low ratings and reach” and are “about revenue, not race.” The company said it looked forward to “taking this case to trial to publicly expose these allegations as baseless.” The dispute is headed for trial in September.

If that weren’t quarrelsome enough, Allen has kicked it up a notch or two. He’s been buying newspaper ads imploring others to join the fight “against McDonald'sMCD +0.1% blatant racism against Black America.” Last month, he filed a $100 million complaint in California state court alleging that McDonald’s failed to live up to a promise it made after the murder of George Floyd to spend 2% of its ad budget with Black-owned media in 2021, escalating to 5% by 2024. The suit claims Allen’s media properties represent 90% of the Black-owned media market, so such a pledge would have McDonald’s spend at least $50 million a year with them. Allen says that hasn’t happened. McDonald’s denies Allen’s claims and says it plans to file a motion to dismiss the California complaint.

“Byron Allen could lose a little face and a lot of money,” Harold Krent, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, told Forbes, referring to the stakes for each side. “And McDonald’s could lose a whole lot more.”

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