Media mogul Sumner Redstone, upset over leaks at his MTV unit, has offered a bribe to a reporter for the name of the leaker, according to a shocking voice mail the executive left on the reporter’s phone.
The 87-year old head of MTV parent, Viacom, and CBS, told the reporter he would be “well rewarded” if he turned over the name of the person who leaked information about an MTV reality show in the making surrounding an all-girl rock band, The Electric Barbarellas.
“We’re not going to kill him,” Redstone assures the reporter, The Daily Beast’s Peter Lauria, speaking of the Viacom employee who leaked the info that was the basis for a Lauria story on the Web site.
“We just want to talk to him,” Redstone adds. “We’re not going to fire him. You will be thoroughly protected. We’re not going to hurt this guy,” Sumner says, according to the shocking 2:37 voicemail which was posted on the site.
Sumner then tells Lauria: “You will be well-rewarded and well-protected.
A Viacom spokesman said that contrary to Redstone’s comments on the tape, “there is no investigation” into the leak about the show.