MTV's Bisexual Girl Band Reality Show Still in Development

There's no fool like an old fool ... just ask Mel Gibson and Paul McCartney. And, apparently, 87-year-old Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone, whose insistence on developing an MTV reality show starring bisexual girl band the Electric Barbarellas is continuing to cause controversy for Redstone and his company.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, MTV has confirmed that the reality show starring the Electric Barbarellas, described as a "raunchy" girl band by the trade paper, is still in development, despite a very public embarrassment last week when Redstone left a voicemail for Daily Beast reporter Peter Lauria, demanding that the journalist divulge the source of a story Lauria wrote about Redstone forcing the Viacom-owned MTV to develop the show, a pet project of Redstone's.

In the voicemail, which can be heard at The Daily Beast, Redstone even offered to make sure Lauria was "well-rewarded" if he gave up his source.

The hubbub began with a June 2010 Daily Beast article by Lauria, who was told by unhappy MTV sources that Redstone was forcing them to develop the show, produced by the production team behind 'Laguna Beach,' despite the fact that the Electric Barbarellas are a "sexy but talentless all-girl band."

A Lauria source went on to describe the band as "as a cross between the Pussycat Dolls and Spice Girls, except raunchier and not as musically gifted, if that's possible," and pointed out that the divorced and smitten Redstone, who has a reputation of thinking of himself as a ladies' man, had spent large sums of money (as much as half a million dollars) to fly the Electric Barbarellas to New York and try to help them land a deal with a major record label.

The show is reportedly so contentious, according to Lauria's June story, that it could lead to the firing or resignation of MTV CEO Judy McGrath.

Meanwhile, Redstone's girl band crush is also proving to be more than just an embarrassment; it may also affect the company financially.

THR reports that Viacom insiders and Wall Street types are particularly interested in the revelation that Electric Barbarellas band member Heather Naylor sold $157,000 worth of Viacom stock in March, which raises questions about how and why she received the stock options and if her possession of them broke any of the company's rules.

"People are upset that (apparently) this woman just got options handed to her and cashed them in already," a source told THR.

MTV execs didn't comment on the stock issue, but a Redstone spokesperson said the mogul did regret leaving the voicemail message that went viral.

"It was Sumner being Sumner," the spokesman told THR. "People who know him know he's a seize-the-day kind of guy. He feels bad that he was impulsive in making that phone call."

But others "who know him" paint a different picture to THR, saying Redstone is happy for any story that links him to younger women. "He thinks he's Paul Newman," a former colleague said. "He thinks women are just fatally attracted to him."