--- title: Sony Hack: Barack Obama Says Studio Was Wrong to Pull The Interview description: "That’s not who we are," Obama said canonical: https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-19T19:21:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T21:16:58.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Says Sony 'Made a Mistake' Pulling 'The Interview' og:description: "That’s not who we are," Obama said og:url: https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8827e0d220e4b5cc/6987702d55a859e044a84e94/obama-sony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2430 og:image:height: 1367 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks to members of the media during his last news conference of the year in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Dec. 19, 2014 in Washington. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Says Sony 'Made a Mistake' Pulling 'The Interview' twitter:description: "That’s not who we are," Obama said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8827e0d220e4b5cc/6987702d55a859e044a84e94/obama-sony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Says Sony 'Made a Mistake' Pulling _The Interview_ > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## Video: SONY CEO Responds to Obama on CNN [Watch (HLS stream): SONY CEO Responds to Obama on CNN](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0VCWPCCA.m3u8) (0:14)  _Published 2014-12-19. SONY CEO Responds to Obama on CNN_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:16 PM UTCPublished: Dec 19, 2014 7:21 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks to members of the media during his last news conference of the year in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Dec. 19, 2014 in Washington. President Barack Obama speaks to members of the media during his last news conference of the year in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Dec. 19, 2014 in Washington. Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 9:16 PM UTCPublished: Dec 19, 2014 7:21 PM UTC President Barack Obama said Friday that Sony “made a mistake” in [pulling its film _The Interview_ from distribution](http://time.com/3638987/the-interview-cancelled-sony-hack/) following [a cyberattack](http://time.com/3625392/the-7-most-outrageous-things-we-learned-from-the-sony-hack/) that American officials have [linked to North Korea](http://time.com/3642161/sony-hack-north-korea-the-interview-fbi/). Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama confirmed the FBI’s assessment that North Korea was behind the attack. He said he wished the studio had reached out to him before canceling the film’s release, and that he fears it sets a bad precedent for the nation. “We cannot have a society where some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” Obama said. “Imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of someone who’s sensibilities probably need to be offended.” ### The Most Controversial Films of All Time  The Interview, 2014 The James Franco-Seth Rogen movie hadn’t even been released when it made its greatest impact. The Interview, about two Americans on a mission to kill Kim Jong-un, has sparked conversations about the tastefulness -- or not -- of depicting the killing of a foreign head of state. But it also is widely seen as having sparked the Sony hacking scandal, as the hackers, known as the Guardians of Peace, have urged Sony not to release the film. The ripple effect of the email hack saw off-color remarks about Angelina Jolie, Aaron Sorkin, and President Obama between Sony executives go public. Columbia  Birth of a Nation, 1915 Birth of a Nation is held in high esteem as one of the most ambitious and innovative early films. It has also, in the near-century since its release, been derided for its use of blackface to depict black men as sexually rapacious and its characterization of the KKK as heroes. Is it possible to admire a film’s technical excellence while acknowledging that its content is deeply offensive? Many film scholars, who point to Birth of a Nation as part of the foundation of modern film, believe so. Hulton Archive/Getty Images  The Great Dictator, 1940 Charlie Chaplin’s lampooning of Hitler came before the U.S. was necessarily ready to hear it -- the country hadn’t yet entered World War II yet. The Great Dictator was controversial both for its advancement of anti-Hitler rhetoric and, at the same time, its turning Hitler into a figure of comedy. United Artists/Getty Images  The Lost Weekend, 1945 Billy Wilder’s frank depiction of alcoholism, anchored with a tragic performance from Ray Milland, was startling for its time. Though it won several Oscars and the Palme d’Or, it had been, before its release, far from a sure thing. The success of The Lost Weekend allowed for fuller depictions of social issues on film, even though it could be uncomfortable. Paramount/Getty Images  Lolita, 1962 This film was perhaps the first of director Stanley Kubrick’s to directly court controversy; the poster famously asked “How did they ever make a movie of Lolita?” and the question was very much worth asking. Lolita, the novel, is a strange and surreal look at an older man’s obsession with “nymphets,” or young girls; the film manages to carry across the same subject matter, though Lolita herself was aged up to avoid outright banning. MGM/Getty Images  Bonnie and Clyde, 1967 Arthur Penn’s depiction of the short, glamorous lives of two bank robbers kicked off the New Hollywood era and scandalized audiences with its over-the-top violence. Bonnie and Clyde made its subjects look like, well, movie stars -- and then killed them in a brutal, seemingly endless hail of gunfire. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images  A Clockwork Orange, 1971 Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Anthony Burgess’s dystopian drama features shocking sex and violence, to the degree that the film was restricted within the U.K. for decades. Its central notion, of behavioral therapy as a force for evil, has also provoked debate since the film’s release. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images  Kramer vs. Kramer, 1979 This domestic drama, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep as a couple whose marriage ends, was upfront about the challenges of raising children and the degree to which married life could be fundamentally unsatisfying. Columbia/Getty Images  Basic Instinct, 1992 This film made Sharon Stone, for a brief time, one of the most compelling movie stars on Earth. Her role as the voracious novelist and serial killer Catherine Tramell outraged gay audiences who viewed her as a homophobic stereotype, and spooked some men who were unaccustomed to Stone’s forthright sexuality. Either way, no one could stop talking about Catherine, or about Stone. TriStar/Getty Images  Eyes Wide Shut, 1999 Stanley Kubrick’s final film was perfectly in keeping with his careerlong interest in provocation. Eyes Wide Shut depicts a seamy New York underworld in which just about everyone is looking for sex, power, or both. Though the film’s graphic sexuality (including a scene at an orgy) was shocking, it was its depiction of the act of love as a transaction that really unsettled audiences. Warner Brothers/Getty Images  Requiem for a Dream, 2000 Darren Aronofsky’s breakthrough film, based on the work of Hubert Selby, Jr., was unabashed in its depiction of drugs’ effects. Each of the four principal characters suffers, brutally, for his or her addiction, culminating in one character’s psychotic break, another’s amputated arm, and a third’s descent into prostitution. The film’s miserabilist outlook, graphic sex, and body-horror imagery are as effective an antidrug campaign as exists. Artisan Entertainment  Fahrenheit 9/11, 2004 The 2004 presidential election was ugly to an unprecedented degree, with attacks on John Kerry’s service from the right’s Swift Boat Veterans for truth and this documentary-length Molotov cocktail tossed at George W. Bush from director Michael Moore. Moore, who’d previously been booed at the 2003 Oscars for an anti-Bush speech, mixed together insinuations about voter fraud in Florida and ties between the Bush and bin Laden families into an antiwar statement. In its sheer provocation and palpable anger, it was the perfect film for its polarized time; the fact that it was received very differently by audiences of different political persuasions seemed somehow apt. Lionsgate  The Passion of the Christ, 2004 This film, depicting the torture and eventual death of Jesus, was one of the biggest hits of all time. But it hadn’t necessarily had a clear path to acclaim; pre-release, the film was pilloried for perceived anti-Semitism. As audiences flocked over the weeks preceding Easter, some criticized director Mel Gibson for an excessively violent and sadistic vision of Jesus’s death. Newmarket  Borat, 2006 Sacha Baron Cohen’s depiction of a Kazakh immigrant interacting with real people stateside showed America in a terrible light; it was hilarious, painful viewing. But for months after the film’s release, questions over just how fair Borat had been to its participants persisted. And Baron Cohen’s career continued to push boundaries of taste, with subsequent movies lampooning gay men (Bruno) and Sub-Saharan African heads of state (The Dictator). 20th Century Fox “That’s not who we are,” Obama added, noting that the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing did not deter runners from running this year. “That’s not what America’s about.” Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton, appearing on CNN shortly after Obama spoke, defended the studio. “We have not caved,” he said. “We have not given up. We have persevered and we have not backed down. We have always had every desire to have the American public see this movie.” Obama promised that the United States would respond “proportionally” to the attack, but would not detail those actions publicly. “We will respond,” he said. We will respond proportionally, and we will respond at a place and time that we choose.” **Read more:** [The 7 most outrageous things we learned from the Sony hack](http://time.com/3637540/sony-hack-north-korea/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/"},"headline":"Obama Says Sony 'Made a Mistake' Pulling The Interview","datePublished":"2014-12-19T19:21:22.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T21:16:58.000Z","description":"\"That’s not who we are,\" Obama said","url":"https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/","keywords":["White House","Tech"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8827e0d220e4b5cc/6987702d55a859e044a84e94/obama-sony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8827e0d220e4b5cc/6987702d55a859e044a84e94/obama-sony.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks to members of the media during his last news conference of the year in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Dec. 19, 2014 in Washington.","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks to members of the media during his last news conference of the year in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Dec. 19, 2014 in Washington.","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/","name":"Obama Says Sony 'Made a Mistake' Pulling The Interview"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"SONY CEO Responds to Obama on CNN","description":"SONY CEO Responds to Obama on CNN","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0VCWPCCA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-12-19T21:01:21.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0VCWPCCA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/","duration":"PT14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3642459/sony-hack-the-interview-barack-obama/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```