Tyler Perry Confirms Interest in BET

Last month there were unconfirmed reports that Tyler Perry was in talks to purchase BET [click here if you missed that]. 

Tyler confirms he is definitely interested...

From ET

ET's Nischelle Turner visited Perry at Tyler Perry Studios, on the set of his new movie, Six Triple Eight, where he revealed that there's truth to the rumors about him buying a majority stake in BET -- in fact, he's very interested in purchasing the network.

"Rumor? No, it's not a rumor," Perry shared. "I've been there for four years now and had tremendous success. I wasn't expecting this to happen, so, yes -- if that is possible, I'm very, very interested in taking as much of it..."

He continued, "If it's possible, I'm gonna take as much of it as I can."

"Part of it is -- and I've read about Byron Allen and Puffy and everybody wanting to bid and so on and so forth, and I think it's really great," the filmmaker began. "This is what I love about it -- when Bob Johnson sold it in 2000, I think it was, there wasn't one black person who could buy it. So now, to see all of these black people, men and women, who are able to be in a position to buy it? Man, that makes me feel really, really excited."

"I think there was sadness when Bob sold it, and I think there'll be happiness when it's Black-owned again," Perry said. "And even though Shari (Redstone) and what is it? Viacom and Paramount? They've done a phenomenal job with it. They didn't let it fall by the wayside; they didn't let it go into dust. They nurtured it and took care of it."

He continued, "And to see Shari at this position saying, 'I think it should be returned to a black owner?' I figured, OK, see, that's my kind of person.'"

As for a time frame for when a sale will go down, Perry kept his lips sealed, maintaining again that a resolution is near.

"We can very much say that there are conversations. I am beyond interested," Perry added.