Kenya Barris Says He Left $100 Million Netflix Deal to Produce ‘More Edgy’ and ‘Highbrow’ Shows for BET

“Netflix became CBS,” Barris tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview

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Kenya Barris expanded on his decision to walk away from Netflix while he was in the middle of a $100 million deal with the streaming giant. Barris left early this year to form a partnership with BET to launch BET Studios, for which Barris has an equity stake and serves a board member.

“I just don’t know that my voice is Netflix’s voice,” Barris said in a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “The stuff I want to do is a little bit more edgy, a little more highbrow, a little more heady, and I think Netflix wants down the middle… Netflix became CBS.”

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