Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Sumner Redstone uses an iPad to say ‘Yes,’ ‘No’ and ‘F–k you’

This is hysterical.  Sumner is the head of Viacom and he’s getting up there in years. So either because he can’t or to just save his voice, he has been communicating with an iPad that’s preloaded with audio clips of his voice saying “Yes,” “No” and “F–k you,” according to a report.

The 94-year-old billionaire — who has voting control over CBS and Viacom as the two companies engage in tense talks to merge — nevertheless won’t have final say over any deal, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall).

That’s because Redstone — whose health has deteriorated so badly that “he cannot speak much beyond grunts,” only has a single vote on the board of National Amusements, the holding company that controls most of the voting stakes in CBS and Viacom, the paper reported.

Last week, a judge unsealed a complaint by Redstone’s former girlfriend Manuela Herzer, who alleged that Redstone’s daughter Shari Redstone and her son Tyler Korff had “used Sumner as an incapacitated puppet to literally manipulate every aspect of CBS and Viacom.”

Rob Klieger, attorney for both Mr. and Ms. Redstone, called Herzer’s claims “fanciful.”