Section B·Page 4
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, March 28, 2001
WWW.PACHAMAMAS.COM
2161 QUAIL CREEK DRIVE . LAWRENCE
Schaum's Outlines to the RESCUE.
Helen, Sweetheart of the Internet
Network's founder insists he fired popular BET host
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The founder of Black Entertainment Television used Tavis Smiley's former air time to insist he — not the network's white corporate owners — decided to fire Smiley.
Smiley, a talk show host, was fired because he offered an exclusive interview to ABC instead of BET, said Robert L. Johnson, the network's chief executive.
With complaints about Smiley's firing threatening to spiral out of control, Johnson sat for a one-hour live show taking viewers' calls. It aired at 11 p.m. Monday, the same time Smiley used to be on BET Tonikht.
Johnson contradicted his chief representative, who last week said Smiley was being forced out because of poor ratings. On Monday, Johnson said ratings had nothing to do with it.
Many viewers were suspicious that Johnson — who founded BET in 1979 and owned it until selling to Viacom Inc. last fall — was ordered to fire Smiley by Viacom.
There were rumors that executives at Viacom, which also owns CBS, were angry that Smiley's interview aired on ABC's Primetime Live on March 1 instead of on CBS.
"I took this job because I wanted to run the business," he said. "I'm absolutely calling the shots...I make too much money to be a front man."
Johnson said Smiley's sale of the interview to ABC was the last straw in a difficult, five-year relationship.
BET had originally announced Smiley would finish his contract, but it would not be renewed. Late Friday, however, the network fired Smiley outright.
"The relationship was fraught with tension and I didn't want this relationship to go any further." Johnson said.
"I didn't see how we could have a beneficial business relationship, with all this going on," Johnson said.
In his live show, Johnson told viewers he made all of BET's programming decisions and he was given a five-year contract by Viacom to continue managing BET after the sale.
BET and Smiley often butted heads: the network conceived Smiley, speaking yesterday on Joyner's show, said the interview didn't fit the format of any BET show. It was offered to CBS but the network declined. he said.
"I find it even more curious that Mr. Johnson would move to dismiss me for selling one interview featuring a white woman to a white company, when he sold the entire network to a white company." Smilev said.
Crossword
ACROSS
1 Semirigid airship
2 Locate
3 Posting no difficulty
4 Sound system
5 Mr. in Munich
6 Soprano Gluck
7 Vaporized water
8 Abominable snowman
9 Free-for-all
10 Mariner
12 Resound
14 Fateful day in the Forum
22 Beginnings
23 Santa's helper
24 Draws out
24 Awesome Mom
24 Lao Tzu's religion
35 Shred
38 Unsuitable
41 On the contrary
44 Public square
44 Arrangement
44 Comprehend
44 Cosmonaut Gagarin
49 Pupils
5 Soak up rays
5 Splash and spot
6 Cold and clammy
58 Vague feelings of discomfort
60 Albania's capital
64 Entrance
6 June 6, 1944
6 Native cousins
6 Native people of Canada
6 Chills and fever
7 Make into law
7 Stabler and Venturi
7 Sharp cry
7 Sri
DOWN
1 Low voice
2Pipe sealant
3 Brainchild
4 Dolphins' home
5 Ointment for the
$ \textcircled{2} $ 2001 Tribune Media Services, Inc
All rights reserved
3/28/01
hair
6 Reticent
7 Equal
8 Sandinista leader
9 divide into equal thirds
10 Gravely
11 False name
12 Struck, old-style
13 "The Dresser" director Peter
13 Teller's call
14 Waiting in the wedge
15 Wild guess
15 Bad to the bone
16 Horne or Olin
17 Brawl
18 Awaken
19 Traitors to a cause
16 Like a drumhead
17 Poet Pound
18 Downpour
18 "Fruft"
Solutions to yesterday's puzzle
42 Take care of
45 Actress Weld
47 Coup d'_
50 Silt remover
51 Whine
53 Kiss loudly
54 San Diego pro
51 Not of this world
52 Swedish bread?
59 Writer Bellow
61 One Ladd
62 Small isthmus
63 Movie dog
64 Slangy assent
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