Rev. Al Sharpton has denied the veracity of New York Post story claiming that he and Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama had a “heated” phone call about plans to protest the acquittal of three NYPD police officers in the Sean Bell “50 Shots” case.

The article claims Sharpton was “infuriated” by a plea for nonviolence made by the Illinois senator, and accused Obama of trying to “grandstand in front of white people.”

The activist minister’s National Action Network is calling the article “an outright falsehood.” According to a statement from Charlie King, Acting National Director of NAW:

“Everything stated in the New York Post regarding yesterday’s conversation between Senator Obama and Reverend Sharpton is false, and is either a fabrication of the Post journalists who wrote the story or the supposed unnamed source for the story. In my view, there is a big difference between tabloid journalism and shoddy journalism. This story is clearly the latter and is unacceptable….For the record, Reverend Sharpton and Senator Obama had a good conversation yesterday about the need to address both police misconduct and reducing crime. As with the numerous conversations they have, it was friendly, respectful and substantive.”