Sumner Redstone, a billionaire media tycoon, died Tuesday in his Los Angeles home at 97 years old after amassing a media empire that includes both CBS and Viacom, The New York Times reported. “Sumner was a man of unrivaled passion and perseverance, who devoted his life to his belief in the power of content,” a representative of his father's theater chain National Amusements said in a statement.
He was known as the man who coined the phrase “content is king,” but what his obituary fails to include is that he is accused of swindling freelancers out of their time, benefits, and ideas to practically build his fortune on their backs. TV writer Gideon Yago, who was also a former employee of Redstone’s, tweeted about his experience working for the mogul Wednesday.
”... a lot of ink gets spilled about his hard-nosed business style, his sexual picadillos, even his iPad that said only 'yes', 'no' and 'fuck you' show up. But what isn't discussed is how Mr. 'Content Is King' got his 'content' …,” Yago tweeted. “Viacom Networks (MTV, BET, Comedy Central, CMT), the engine that drove Redstone's media empire was almost entirely built on 'reality', 'live' and 'free' content.
“Which is to say, Redstone's genius was finding a way to pipe content ... made and paid for by other people (music labels, comedy clubs) on to cable. And to fill the gap with non-union, unprotected 'perma-lance' innovation in-house. Reality and music television was just union-busting. Plain and simple.”
Yago accused Redstone of ripping off the idea for MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 and Jersey Shore and leaving the true creators without IP ownership or health care. “And Redstone’s bet was freelance 20 year olds wouldn’t have the stones to organize or sue. ...” Yago tweeted. “... which, for decades they didn't. It starved a generation of workers out of wages, health-care and residuals. And it had a corollary of making the cable broadcast industry whiter and more upper-middle/upper class.
“Because who else could ... afford to work in New York under these conditions without parental subsidy?”
Yago finished his thread with: "So rest in peace, Mr. Redstone. You cost a lot of my friends a lot of sweat and a lot of years ... shout-out to all my Viacom alums, who got paid peanuts, fired every 11 months and rehired days later to avoid being paid health benefits and had their ideas stolen. I see you and I love you all.”
Read some of the responses Yago attracted from other former and current media workers: