The Wall Street Journal
Viacom Inc. attempted to distance itself Tuesday from comments Sumner Redstone, its executive chairman, made to a reporter.
In a nearly three-minute voicemail, Redstone said reporter Peter Lauria would be “well-rewarded and well-protected” if he coughed up the identity of a source for an early June story that he had written for Web publication The Daily Beast.
“We’re not going to hurt this guy. We just want to sit him down and find out why he did [what he did],” Redstone, 87 years old, said in the voicemail, which the Daily Beast posted its Web site Tuesday. Lauria wrote an accompanying story in which he declined to divulge his sources.
Viacom suggested Tuesday that Redstone was acting on his own. “There is no investigation at Viacom,” spokesman Carl Folta said. “We are not trying to find out who the leaker is.”
The story in question had reported, according to “sources with knowledge of the situation,” that Redstone had become “smitten” with a girl-band whose members were alleged to be both skimpy in their clothing and talent. Redstone was said to be pushing Viacom unit MTV to shoot a reality series about them.
MTV has been developing a show about the band, according to people familiar with the matter. It is still unclear, however, whether the MTV will pick up the show to air on the network.
In his voicemail, Redstone suggested that Lauria’s report had been inaccurate because the band, in fact, “is revolutionary.”
“We have to have the name of the person who gave you that story,” Redstone said in the voicemail. “We’re not going to kill him. We just want to talk to him. We’re not going to fire him. We just want to talk to him.”
In an emailed statement, a Daily Beast spokesman said “we hope the show does indeed make it to air so that the viewing public can indeed decide on whether or not the group are ‘revolutionary.’”
In a nearly three-minute voicemail, Redstone said reporter Peter Lauria would be “well-rewarded and well-protected” if he coughed up the identity of a source for an early June story that he had written for Web publication The Daily Beast.
“We’re not going to hurt this guy. We just want to sit him down and find out why he did [what he did],” Redstone, 87 years old, said in the voicemail, which the Daily Beast posted its Web site Tuesday. Lauria wrote an accompanying story in which he declined to divulge his sources.
Viacom suggested Tuesday that Redstone was acting on his own. “There is no investigation at Viacom,” spokesman Carl Folta said. “We are not trying to find out who the leaker is.”
The story in question had reported, according to “sources with knowledge of the situation,” that Redstone had become “smitten” with a girl-band whose members were alleged to be both skimpy in their clothing and talent. Redstone was said to be pushing Viacom unit MTV to shoot a reality series about them.
MTV has been developing a show about the band, according to people familiar with the matter. It is still unclear, however, whether the MTV will pick up the show to air on the network.
In his voicemail, Redstone suggested that Lauria’s report had been inaccurate because the band, in fact, “is revolutionary.”
“We have to have the name of the person who gave you that story,” Redstone said in the voicemail. “We’re not going to kill him. We just want to talk to him. We’re not going to fire him. We just want to talk to him.”
In an emailed statement, a Daily Beast spokesman said “we hope the show does indeed make it to air so that the viewing public can indeed decide on whether or not the group are ‘revolutionary.’”
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