King siblings unaware of fee intricacies

Two of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s children say they were not aware of the details of an $800,000 licensing deal with a memorial foundation brokered two years ago by their brother, whom they accused of tarnishing their parents’ legacy with his business decisions.

Bernice King and Martin Luther King III acknowledged Wednesday they generally favored the agreement between the King Center and the foundation building the national memorial to their father, but insist it was handled badly by their brother, Dexter King, and struck without their involvement.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation paid the $800,000 fee to the King estate in 2007 to use the civil rights icon’s words and images in fundraising materials, and the two siblings say they found out about it through the media.

“When we were made aware of it, it was already a done deal,” Bernice King told The Associated Press. “Our understanding was that this was about the King Center being able to survive.”

In a statement last week, the King estate said there was no fee charged for the use of the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s name, image and words on the memorial itself, and that the licensing agreement benefited the center, not King’s heirs.

As for when money factored into the deal, “we don’t know when that happened,” Bernice King said.

Both Kings said they have not been involved in decisions about their father’s estate since 2004, and that Dexter King has acted on his own for years as head of the estate and the center, the nonprofit organization founded by Coretta Scott King shortly after her husband’s assassination in 1968. She died in 2006, and Bernice King handles her estate. The eldest King sibling, Yolanda, died in 2007.

Martin King said the licensing agreement should have been made public, to encourage transparency and signal cooperation.

“The way [Dexter King] has done what he’s done has contributed to confusion,” he said.

The three siblings are the sole shareholders, directors and officers of the company which manages their father’s intellectual property, but they have not had a meeting to handle the company’s affairs in five years.

“The effect of it is yes, he is King Inc.,” Bernice King said of Dexter King, who did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment.

The King foundation hopes to begin building the $120 million memorial on the National Mall this year. So far, it has raised $104 million.