Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman fired back shortly after his surprise removal from the company's trust on May 20, asserting that the majority of shareholders was manipulated into ordering the firing.
Dauman and Viacom board member George Abrams were notified that they'd been removed from the trust the media mogul Sumner Redstone has set up to manage CBS and Viacom after he passes away.
The pair was also removed from the board of Viacom and CBS' holding company, National Amusements. The board holds 80 percent of the voting power in the two media companies.
Dauman, via a spokesperson, blamed Sumner's daughter Shari for the moves he called "shameful" and unlawful.
"They are a shameful effort by Shari Redstone to seize control by unlawfully using her ailing father Sumner Redstone's name and signature," a spokesperson for Dauman said. "As she knows and as court proceedings and other facts have demonstrated, Sumner Redstone now lacks the capacity to have taken these steps."
Dauman and Sumner were said to have been close, a sort of father-son dynamic, but their relationship has been strained as the media mogul prepares his companies to move forward when he dies. The return of Sumner's daughter Shari has, apparently, only added to the strain on his relationship with Dauman.
When Dauman stepped in for the 92-year-old Redstone to serve as chairman, Shari voted against the move. And with her relationship with her father mended, Shari also took over as his health care agent.
The elder Redstone has trouble speaking now and investors have long worried about his health. However, Sumner asserts that he is still fully in charge of his faculties, as evidenced by him shooting down an attempt by an ex-girlfriend, whom he evicted, to instate herself to manage his care.
After the removal of Dauman and Abrams from the trust, Redstone's lawyer, Michael Tu, fired back at suggestions that the media mogul moves were being strung along by Shari.
"The public statement made on Mr. Dauman's behalf attacking Mr. Redstone's capacity is disappointing and incorrect, as reflected by Mr. Dauman's own testimony given under oath less than six months ago that Mr. Redstone is as 'engaged, attentive and as opinionated as ever,'" Tu said. "That is exactly the Sumner Redstone who made these decisions today."
Viacom released a statement on May 21, stating that the company hasn't been in communication with Sumner.
The company's board held strategy sessions late May 17 and the entire May 18, according to a statement from Viacom. However, the board members heard nothing from Sumner, despite him being patched in via phone.
That reported silence may support reports that Sumner's frail health had deteriorated to the point where he had trouble verbalizing anything beyond basic responses. And those fears were supported by the board's recent decision to stop paying his salary.
Making matters more mysterious is the lockdown on Sumner's residence. Shari has denied access to him, Viacom stated.
"The actions taken yesterday in Sumner Redstone's name are completely inconsistent with his long expressed wishes and intent, and extremely disruptive and damaging to Viacom and all its shareholders," Viacom spokesman Carl Folta said.
During the May 17-18 strategy sessions, Shari was also connected via phone, but not a sound was heard from her either, according to Viacom's statement.
However, she issued the following statement later.
"I fully support my father's decisions and respect his authority to make them," she said.
