Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Amy Pascal has formally apologized for her role in an e-mail exchange with producer Scott Rudin that included racially insensitive cracks about what black movies President Barack Obama might like. This follows an earlier apology by Rudin. The comments surfaced as part of an avalanche of emails stolen by hackers that broke into Sony’s security system, and subsequently disseminated to media outlets.
Said Pascal:
“The content of my emails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am.
Although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”
This comes as the studio braces for tonight’s premiere of The Interview, a comedy that has become a hot button picture for its depiction of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has been speculated as possibly being complicit in this hacking.
Recent Comments
Just read those emails. Yup, they do not look good at all. Indefensible.
Whatever. They were private emails and I bet you’ve said some offenseive stuff in emails as well. Getting tired of everyone apologizing for having an opinion. It’s getting ridiculous.
Nobody needs apologists. Nobody asks for them, idiot. If you’re racially insensitive, your apology means nothing. so you can keep it no apology needed. Oh my bad, was that insensitive?
Private emails on the server of a publicly traded company? Uh no! The first thing they tell you in corporate 101 is if you are not comfortable with an email or document sent on company letterhead being subpoenaed and being read in court, don’t send it.
Look I agree i’m black and think this has been overblown it was a joke and no one should have to apologise for a joke, but if it was an opinion that would be worrying. There’s a difference between an opinion and a joke.
I shudder to think of the kind of un-PC crap I’ve joked about in emails to buddies…of course in my case, I wouldn’t give a shit what anyone thought about it, even if it were made public hah.
Since when are emails sent on a publicly traded company’s server private??? And if you are an Executive of a publicly traded company and your “opinion” is racist it should be exposed.
You realize by that definition 99% of the world’s emails are public…
can’t disagree with that! poeple have been fired for lesser “insensitivities”
I’m getting tired of the “you weren’t supposed to know I’m a racist” defense.
Amy is NOT apologizing for HAVING an OPINION. She’s apologizing for the general public KNOWING her opinion. I’m sure it’ll be difficult now for her to look WILL SMITH in the face when SHE knows that HE now knows what HER opinion is. Can’t wait to read her e-mailed OPINIONS about HIM! :)
Amy is NOT apologizing for HAVING an opinion. She’s apologizing for the general public being PRIVY to her opinion. I’m sure it will now be awkward for her to look WILL SMITH in the face, ’cause SHE knows that HE now knows her OPINION! Can’t wait to read her e-mailed opinions about HIM!!!! #WhatYouDoInTheDarkComesOutIntoTheLight
Please just stop with this.
Boot the movie.
You made a mistake making ‘the interview’.
THAT is her apology.
Make it.
No she didn’t make a mistake and I plan to see it in the theater just to support FREE SPEECH.
You clearly have no idea what free speech is.
Amen. I couldn’t care less about the movie, but will definitely be seeing it as well.
… you know, threatening to kill someone is very specifically NOT covered in free speech. And in this movie they actually kill a real leader, of a real country.
I notice you didn’t include the word “threaten” in your second sentence. Moron.
I notice you left the word “threaten” out of your second sentence. Because it’s called fiction you idiot
honestly: if you saw a movie in which two guys killed you, you wouldn’t take it as a threat?
making this movie was stupid, and incendiary. If russia made a 44 million dollar movie about two guys killing our actual sitting president we would flip.
sony tokyo tried to get them to change the ending, sony pictures fought to keep the death, cause they knew it would be inflammatory.
Free speech comes with responsibility. That means knowing when not to say something that cpuld get people hurt. For a major studio to assasinate a real leader of a real country in a filmis totally wrong. Especially when that country is North Korea. Would it make them happy if they started a war? NOT FUNNY.
Ditto. “The content of my emails to Scott were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am”, she writes. If you learned of other comments we can agree it’s “not an accurate reflection of who I am.” Like some others, it’s a tip of the iceberg of who these honchos really are.
insensitive???? are you kidding me. this is racist. no way around that and to not report it as such is ridiculous. was donald sterling also insensitive?
even if it was not meant as racist – even if it was just meant as a “joke”.. the real issue here is if a publicly traded company can afford executives @ $ 3 Mill. a year that dumb. Sony should be worried more about the wasted time writing these emails than the stupidity of their content – especially when you lose money!
Because you just don’t fuck with supreme leader he-man Kim Jong Un. Now Hollywood knows that, too.
After the movie comes out who at Sony is next? How much damage is #GOP planning on doing? Is #GOP even in North Korea?
LOL
an apology with a defense is no apology.
Its in print baby. If this was a mid-level employee, they would be terminated immediately for cause. She should make a graceful exit. Linton should ask for her resignation. If all else fails Sony Japan should force her to make a immediate exit. Does she not see the damage she has caused? Poor poor judgement – for many, many years.
dude she’s like the best / most successful exec in 20 years lol she’s not going anywhere. shareholders would be up in arms. babies would cry. ice caps would melt. world war III would begin. #PardonPascal <– I like that.
NEWSFLASH… If this was a mid-level employee, NO ONE WOULD KNOW, because NO ONE WOULD GIVE A SHIT.
NEWSFLASH… as a former low-level employee who was once quietly fired from a studio for a remark that was perceived to be insensitive (a religious joke, to be specific), I can confirm that no one would know and no one would give a shit. LOL.
You make a good point. They’d be quick to can anyone under them who said those things– hypocrites.
Ah yeah. I couldn’t agree with you more. You wrote it. Its in print 4-eva. Get over yourself lady. You made a mistake. Period the end. Just say so. but no, there is always an excuse. If this were a low level someone, they would be gone. But you can diss the prez and its ok.
She should be fired!!
‘I’m sorry I got caught being racist”
People real views that in the heart always have a tendency to come to light.We all have said things we regret later so I think she should be forgiven.The Sony movies are going to gain alot of viewers
This post could benefit from proofreading. I have no idea what that first sentence means.
‘I’m sorry I got caught’
It’s interesting how everyone always says, “this is not who I really am”. Did somebody else write that for you?
I’m positive that those emails are precisely indicative of who she really is. She’s only sorry that she got caught.
Fire her
Apparently they’ve never heard “if it’s email, it’s always there, on the phone, it’s in the air.” Sure they’re sorry…they were found out! D’uh.
senior exec training on emailiquette anyone ?
COME ON, this is how these people behave, and now it is out for all to see! You must be a bully and a whore to rise to the top, you must know how to defend your turf and fight it out. Gossiping and making fun of the President and actors is all part of the culture, AMY dear, stop it you are who you are.
When you get fired or retire THIS WILL STAY WITH YOU FOREVER…. ENJOY YOUR HOLIDAYS!
Not sure I want any morality lessons from someone who uses the words bully and whore to describe an entire group of people based on the actions of two people.
“I’m sorry for the things I meant to say when I said them. I just didn’t want you to read them.”
Does not surprise me maybe next time Obama see’s one of them he should ask their opinion of Triumph of the Will by Lene Riefenstah. Just for giggles.
Sony needs to cut their losses and bury “The Interview.” Period.
I disagree and I’m not even sure the hack was about “The Interview”. But Amy needs to go. Theatrical has been underperforming and now she shows herself to be a casual racist. Horrific.
This is the most important point. The movie looks terrible. The negative press might get some eyeballs, but look for this to fall on its face.
No, Sony needs to cut their losses and fire these two execs. Unmitigated assholery should have some negative consequences.
They can’t “fire” Rudin because he doesn’t work for anyone but himself, not that you drive by types would know that.
And who’s going to fire them? The OTHER execs that “totally would never say anything like this, like ever”?
The hits just keep on coming!
The similarities between this and Donald Sterling are interesting. What would happen to Pascal and Rudin if they worked in the NBA and not lilly white Hollywood?
Nothing…they made stupid, poor taste jokes; they didn’t say people of color shouldn’t be allowed to go to their movies or they didn’t want to be seen w them.
Ouch. She could use help (better help?) crafting her statements.
Have we missed the point that these emails were also about the actual President of the United States?
And that matters for what reason? I’m sure much worse things were said abt Bush in industry emails. I’m also sure equally bad things have been said abt Jews in industry emails.
Is she confident that nothing else bigoted will come out of the leaked correspondence? This apology has firmly put the ball in the hackers’ court, assuming they understand how the US media works. Her career is already on life support as is.
Yeah, Pascal and Rudin, you are both very “sorry” excuses for people, overpaid at that. Business leaders lead and inspire, Pascal, not make disgusting, racist jokes on the company email server and never expect to be caught. Do the right thing and resign.
Context is everything. They were ironically bantering on the theme of: “What is the most clueless thing a Hollywood exec could say to our bookish first black president?” The cluelessness and offensiveness of these “potential topics of conversation” IS the joke. You’re meeting the billionaire Oxford-educated emir of Kuwait? “Ask him if he likes ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ ” etc. The incongruity between the actual person and the offensive stereotype of the person is where the irony lies. It’s the kind of irony that depends on the fact that the listener is NOT the racist who would ever say or think those things. Which is why it was a private exchange. Context.
Thank you fellow haver of brain. It’s incredible how effortlessly obtuse people can be when they elect to do so.
Yeah and that’s racist. Now, if the conversation had been “what are his favorite movies and TV shows?” and it had gone “Dave?” “JFK?” “Guarding Tess?” “State of Affairs?” “hahaha yeah right no one likes Katherine Heigl.”
That exchange would then not have been racist.
I of course have made insensitive remarks and off color jokes to and about my brown friends- but to their faces, because they are in on it.
TL;dr- any joke which relies on a person’s ethnicity as a premise for the punchline = racist
So what you’re saying “nice try”… Is that you’re racist? Or that you’re NOT racist, because it’s to their face. Also, what’s the difference here when you’re saying to and ABOUT my “brown friends”… To sounds like they’re present, about sounds like they’re not.
Racism is a mindset, not a remark. These emails aren’t racist, they’re just dumb.
It relies on the execs cluelessness as the punchline
Alexander, this is the most thoughtful post I’ve read on this matter. Thank you.
At last, a comment that doesn’t reek of self-righteous hypocrisy.
Interesting take… Maybe you can also help us to understand why these over paid 1% ers need YOU to explain their non-racist irony?! If articulate people can’t explain their OWN misunderstood intent, it is HIGHLY suspect one exists. I’m sure they would be happy to grab onto this creative lawyerly defense though. I DO know the context, of defense, that YOUR comment is made in. These people come off as assholes. If they are actually mocking assholes, in the vein of Stephen Colbert, are they really too stupid to just articulate that? YOU, if not one, would make a good defense lawyer though…
#PardonPascal – don’t put execs on the pedestal, they’re human and flawed like us all. couple race jokes here and there, ITS HOLLYWOOD PEOPLE.
there are no excuses and you can’t make light of the attitude and views they exhibited , they should get fired you can’t have people like that in such a influential position .
If a lower level employee makes such comment he/she would be fired. Why not the board fire the CEO?