Lawsuit: Jim Gray Sent Around Dumb Anti-Obama Tea Party Meme

Late last month, a former employee filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Los Angeles real estate mogul Mike Meldman, alleging racial discrimination and harassment. The full suit is here, but we're mostly concerned with a cameo appearance from pseudojournalist-for-hire Jim Gray.

The filing contains a number of exhibits that the plaintiff claims represents examples of the harassment he faced. One of them is a cryptoracist anti-Obama email forward he received from Meldman, having initially been passed along by Gray.

"The skunk has replaced the eagle as the new symbol of the American Presidency," it reads. "It is half black, half white, and everything it does stinks."

The meme originated in December 2011 with the Kansas-based Patriot Freedom Alliance, a local Tea Party organization, and caused a furor after it was criticized by the NAACP. The group took it down from their website. Nine months later, Gray forwarded sent it along to a number of his family members and colleagues, including Meldman.

Sure, it could be an entirely different Jim Gray, even though two of the people he sent the email to, Meldman and TV producer Bert Sugarman, are both co-investors with Gray in a Denver software company. Also in on the chain: Greg Cappelli, CEO of the Apollo Group, which owns the for-profit University of Phoenix, and Frank Luntz, the GOP strategist who helped NHL owners craft their PR strategy during the lockout.

In conclusion: Jim Gray is your racist aunt with richer friends.