When Sony Pictures pulled “The Interview” from theaters worldwide, the internet, movie fans, and major Hollywood players got in an uproar about such a cowardly move. George Clooney spoke with Deadline yesterday and gave a blunt and all-encompassing analysis of the situation, reported Salon.
“Sony didn’t pull the movie because the were scared; they pulled the movie because all the theaters said they were not going to run it,” said Clooney. “And they said they were not going to run it because they talked to their lawyers and those lawyers said if anybody dies in one of these, then you’re going to be responsible.”
Clooney and his agent also circulated a petition around the Hollywood industry declaring that “We fully support Sony’s decision not to submit to these hackers’ demands. We know that to give in to these criminals now will open the door for any group that would threaten freedom of expression, privacy, and personal liberty.”
Disappointingly, the petition failed because individuals were afraid to “be the first to sign on.” It’s such a shame that one of the country’s largest industries buckled to an anonymous band of international hackers. We sold out our own First Amendment rights because someone across the water told us not speak.
“Every news outlet that did the bidding of the Guardians of Peace is morally treasonous and spectacularly dishonorable,” Clooney added. The actor was candid in questioning the fact that America, Hollywood, had given in to North Korea, whose leader has been the butt of many jokes in American pop culture. He then pleaded that the movie be released regardless of the means.
“Do whatever you can to get this movie out,” he said. “Not because everybody has to see the movie, but because I’m not going to be told we can’t see the movie. That’s the most important part. We cannot be told we can’t see something by Kim Jong Un, of all fucking people.”
