Sounds about right. Chris Rock confessed on Wednesday, Dec. 17, that he and his peers are "scared" about the recent Sony hacks that have exposed many dark secrets about Hollywood. The comic stopped by The New York Times offices, where he spoke candidly with the paper's media columnist David Carr about the leaked email exchanges between executives and its stars.
"Read my emails," Rock, whose new movie Top Five was produced by Scott Rudin. "I say offensive things for a living."
He noted that his famous peers have also expressed concern about the recently leaked emails — some racist and sexist, others more lighthearted. "This whole thing is just scary, man," Rock noted. "It's emails, it's your private stuff, and the whole town is scared. Everybody's got to be scared… nobody knows what to do."
Rock even alluded to the scandal involving former Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who was ousted this past year after a racist rant of his was leaked online. "You say the wrong thing — you see what happened to Donald Sterling," Rock said in the talk. "I think he's a bastard and all that stuff, but again, I say inappropriate things for a living. So when I see a guy lose his property over what he said in private, that's scary."
He then clarified: "I'm not defending what Sterling said at all, but if that's not the First Amendment, then what the f— is? And what did he say, 'I don't want my girlfriend hanging out with black basketball players.' Me neither!"
Sony Pictures Entertainment announced Wednesday that it was pulling the theatrical release of the Seth Rogen and James Franco-headlined comedy, The Interview, after terror attack threats were made by the same group responsible for the Sony hacks. "Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale — all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like," Sony said in its statement.
"We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public. We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome."
Hollywood reacted immediately, with stars like Judd Apatow, Jimmy Kimmel, Ben Stiller, and Rob Lowe expressing anger.
"Really hard to believe this is the response to a threat to freedom of expression here in America. #TheInterview," Zoolander pioneer Stiller tweeted. A more disgusted Lowe added: "Wow. Everyone caved. The hackers won. An utter and complete victory for them. Wow."
