*Tyler Perry has confirmed reports that he’s very interested in purchasing BET.
“Rumor? No, it’s not a rumor,” Perry shared with ET’s Nischelle Turner. “I’ve been there for four years now and had tremendous success. I wasn’t expecting this to happen, so, yes — if that is possible, I’m very, very interested in taking as much of it…”
He continued, “If it’s possible, I’m gonna take as much of it as I can.”
We reported previously that Perry and Byron Allen are interested in buying BET (Black Entertainment Television) as Paramount Global explores a potential sale of the asset which includes BET, VH1 and the BET+ streaming service.
READ MORE: Byron Allen and Tyler Perry in Talks to Buy BET Majority Stake
“Byron Allen is interested in buying BET, and he will be pursuing the acquisition of the network,” a spokesman for the Allen Media Group said in a statement, Deadline reports.
Perry is a longtime partner with BET which airs many of his shows. Meanwhile, Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group is the largest supplier of first-run syndicated programming for broadcast television stations.
BET was founded by Robert Johnson in 1980 and was acquired by Viacom in 2001 in a deal worth $3 billion. According to reports, Diddy is also vying to buy into the cable giant.
“Part of it is — and I’ve read about Byron Allen and Puffy and everybody wanting to bid and so on and so forth, and I think it’s really great,” Perry said. “This is what I love about it — when Bob Johnson sold it in 2000, I think it was, there wasn’t one black person who could buy it. So now, to see all of these black people, men and women, who are able to be in a position to buy it? Man, that makes me feel really, really excited.”
Having a Black-owned BET network is something Perry looks forward to.
“I think there was sadness when Bob sold it, and I think there’ll be happiness when it’s Black-owned again,” Perry said. “And even though Shari (Redstone) and what is it? Viacom and Paramount? They’ve done a phenomenal job with it. They didn’t let it fall by the wayside; they didn’t let it go into dust. They nurtured it and took care of it.”
He continued, “And to see Shari at this position saying, ‘I think it should be returned to a black owner?’ I figured, OK, see, that’s my kind of person.'”
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