Unscripted Quotes

“By now Moonves must have been far beyond his third vodka of the evening. In his last text of the day, to Schwartz at 10:36 p.m., he was all but incoherent: “We need to lay their clowns think early on we are no hardship Barr no and will ill them handcuffs off. If they want to bring it n watch out. We will decimate. Old Sara we haven’t done anything but party with you. Now we will kill Scarw her big. All of them scare them. I am going to prevent this public bulls hit rightbaway. And let’s go after them head on NOW.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“O'Donnell's questions began at 11:55 a.m.

"Good morning, sir. I'm Pierce O'Donnell, attorney for Manuela Herzer. It's a privilege to meet you. How are you today?"

"Fine. I'm fine," Sumner responded.

"I want to ask you some questions. Who is Manuela Herzer?"

Sumner didn't answer.

The interpreter suggested he ask again and speak more slowly.

"Who is Manuela Herzer?" O'Donnell repeated.

"She is...," Sumner began, then paused. "Manuela is a fucking bitch."

It was downhill from there. The much-anticipated deposition was over in eighteen minutes.”
― Rachel Abrams, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Don’t run this,” Farrow asked. “I’m still reporting.” “I hear you’re almost done,” she said. “You’re not in the newsroom,” Farrow said, annoyed. Her piece would run early the next morning. She’d already called CBS for comment. That gave Farrow less than twenty-four hours.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“On Thursday, Farrow was at the venerable New Yorker writer Roger Angell’s desk, working frantically to close the Moonves piece, when Kim Masters called from The Hollywood Reporter, saying she was breaking the news about his Moonves exposé, and asked if he wanted to comment.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“At the suggestion of his nurses, Sumner got a Microsoft Surface Pro laptop to help him communicate. It was programmed with his voice. All he had to do was tap, and the computer would respond “yes,” “no,” or—for use specifically with Shari—“I love you,” “I’m proud of you,” or “Would you like some fruit salad?” But Sumner’s favorite was “Fuck you.” It was the option he pressed repeatedly whenever anyone mentioned Donald Trump.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Selling such a large stake flew in the face of everything she knew about her father. He loved content.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Dauer figured Moonves was calling about a role for Phillips, which finally seemed to be happening. Dauer was watching his hometown baseball team, the Minnesota Twins, on TV when Moonves reached him. But Moonves wasn’t calling him with good news about Phillips. Instead, he was terse and sounded stressed. Moonves asked Dauer to delete all their text messages, adding that he was asking all his friends to do the same thing. (A spokesman for Moonves denied he asked him to delete messages.) Dauer wondered what that was all about. He hung up and went back to watching the game. He never deleted the messages.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Over the years Sumner amended his trust more than forty times to add and remove numerous beneficiaries, many of them women he dated. Dauman, who as a cotrustee of Sumner’s trust was aware of many of the gifts, acknowledged that “several” women received over $20 million each, “a lot” of women received over $10 million, and “many, many” women received over $1 million.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Real estate developer Donald J. Trump weighed in on the dispute. He wrote Sumner a letter saying he should listen to his daughter. Trump had shared a box with Shari at a New England Patriots game, and she evidently made a favorable impression. Trump had followed up with questions about the theater business, and Shari gave him and his daughter Ivanka a tour of one of National Amusements’ new luxury theaters. With the National Amusements board firmly lined up behind Sumner, Trump was one of the few people willing to stand up for Shari—a gesture she never forgot.”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

“Sumner”
― James B. Stewart, Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy