BET Executives in an Epic Feud After One Was Mistakenly Fired in a Memo
Apparently there is a shake-up happening at BET, and it’s “next level crazy,” according to Page Six.
BET’s CEO Debra Lee sent out a memo Wednesday morning announcing that executives Stephen Hill and Zola Masariki are stepping down. The thing is though, Zola is still under contract and was blindsided by the announcement.
A source at BET said, “Debra wanted it to be perceived that the transition was a part of Viacom’s restructure, so she included Mashariki in the exit story in an effort to protect Stephen, who was ousted. [Viacom] wanted him out.”
Debra’s been at BET for 18 years, and Zola, who took medical leave earlier this year, was baffled to read she was stepping down from her role as Executive Vice President of original programming: “She was receiving calls and she had no idea what people were talking about because she never accepted any kind of deal nor was she told to leave,” the source added.
However, another insider said Zola was fired before she took medical leave, and was apparently terminated as a result of her performance.
“She was terminated as a result of her own performance prior to taking medical leave. They then allowed her to keep her contract, so she was able to keep her salary and benefits after being diagnosed. She is definitely terminated,” they said.
Debra was allegedly too embarrassed to retract her memo, but apparently her carelessness with the original memo might be because “her days are numbered.”
“She was planning to step down as CEO if Hillary Clinton got elected,” a source said. “There was talk of her having a role in Hillary’s camp.”
Well that didn’t happen obviously, so now she’s stuck sending careless memos. “[Debra’s camp] even told Zola’s lawyer, ‘What if we offered her a dream exit package to save face because it’s going to be hard to get Debra to put out a new statement. Can we find a middle ground?’”
We’ll see what happens.
H/T: Page Six