Dirty old man in search of leak

That would be Sumner Redstone, the 87-year-old chairman of Viacom and CBS, who is said to be smitten with an all-girl group called the Electric Barbarellas - so much so that he forced MTV to air a reality show about the band. Peter Lauria reported as much for the Daily Beast last month, and now Redstone is looking for the anonymous sources that gave him the information. He left a three-minute message on Lauria's voicemail in which he promised that the person(s) responsible would not be killed or fired (don't Mafia bosses offer the same assurances?)

"You may be reluctant, but we have to have [for the lawsuit] the name of the person who gave you that story," Redstone says in the voicemail, the "we" being himself and Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. "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."

[CUT]

Redstone went on to say: "You will be thoroughly protected. We're not going to hurt this guy. We just want to sit him down and find out why he did what he did. You will not in any way be revealed. You will be well-rewarded and well-protected."

Sources tell Lauria that the Electric Barbarellas show was unwatchable, "but that Redstone, who makes no secret of his enjoying the company of women several decades his junior, was insisting MTV pick it up."

"I'm only interested in one thing, and that's the truth," declared Redstone. "Your story said the girls have no talent. Obviously, intentionally or not, the story was false. I think I'm doing the right thing in talking to you because you were misled and I don't think you want to be a party to something that was misleading. I have a sense that you want true stories."