UPDATE: Sony has responded to President Obama’s comments. See them below.
Now that the FBI has released confirmation that North Korea is behind the Sony hacks and threats regarding the release of THE INTERVIEW, President Obama has issued statements via his year end press conference regarding his opinions of Sony’s decision not to release THE INTERVIEW.
“I am sympathetic to the concerns that they face. Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake,” Obama said at a news conference Friday. “Let’s not get into that way of doing business.”
“We cannot have a society in which some dictators some place can start imposing censorship here in the united states because if somebody is able to intimidate us out of releasing a satirical movie. Imagine what they start doing once they see a documentary that they don’t like or news reports that they don’t like,” Obama said. “That’s now who we are. That’s not what America is about.”
Whether the backing of the U.S. Government will alter Sony’s plans for the release of THE INTERVIEW is still unknown. We know that there will be a “measured and appropriate” response to North Korea’s actions, but beyond that we do not know what the movie studio will decide to do.
There are currently conflicting reports coming that say Sony has received further threats unless they take down all marketing, trailers, and any pirated copies of the film. Other sources claim that the Guardians of Peace, or someone posing as the hackers, have given permission for a heavily edited version of THE INTERVIEW to be released. At this point we cannot be sure which message, if any, are legitimate or if the threats in question carry any credibility, but the ball is now back in Sony’s court.
The decision to not release THE INTERVIEW has been met with extremely mixed responses around the world and on this website. On one hand, you have the threat, unsubstantiated or not, of harm to civilians while on the other you have the question of personal and financial freedoms guaranteed by the United States. What comes next by the United States as well as Sony will dictate major changes in world and artistic affairs. Stay tuned for more as it develops.
In the meantime, check out our very own Paul Shirey’s take on the Sony hacking scandal, an opinion shared by the majority of us here at JoBlo.com.
UPDATE: Sony CEO Michael Lynton has responded to the President’s comments with his own statement.
“Sony Pictures Entertainment is and always has been strongly committed to the First Amendment. For more than three weeks, despite brutal intrusions into our company and our employees’ personal lives, we maintained our focus on one goal: getting the film The Interview released. Free expression should never be suppressed by threats and extortion.
The decision not to move forward with the December 25 theatrical release of The Interview was made as a result of the majority of the nation’s theater owners choosing not to screen the film. This was their decision.
Let us be clear – the only decision that we have made with respect to release of the film was not to release it on Christmas Day in theaters, after the theater owners declined to show it. Without theaters, we could not release it in the theaters on Christmas Day. We had no choice.
After that decision, we immediately began actively surveying alternatives to enable us to release the movie on a different platform. It is still our hope that anyone who wants to see this movie will get the opportunity to do so.”
Lynton is accurate that Sony has no control over movie theaters, but that does not explain their decision not to release the film via alternative means such as On Demand services or via bitTorrent sites (instructions were even shared!), but now the buck passing may begin as Sony says it is not their fault and they had no choice.
It is interesting to note that Sony now seems to say they are exploring alternative methods to release THE INTERVIEW. Maybe we will get to see it after all.