Major Dem donor apologizes for mocking President Obama in hacked racist email.

[Jesus Malverde]

In the latest of embarrassing emails to leak online from Sony this week, studio co-chairman Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin riff on what President Barack Obama’s favorite movies could be, focusing mostly on films starring and by African Americans.

According to Buzzfeed, Pascal asked Rudin for advice before going to an Obama fundraiser hosted by DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg, particularly what she should ask the President “at this stupid Jeffrey breakfast.”

“Would he like to finance some movies,” responded Rudin.

“I doubt it. Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?” said Pascal, with Rudin replying “12 YEARS.”

“Or the butler. Or think like a man?” continued Pascal, who is a major donor for the Democratic party and President Obama.

“Ride-along. I bet he likes Kevin Hart,” said Rudin.

http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/leaked-sony-emails-reveal-jokes-about-obama-and-race-1201376676/

Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal has apologized for racially insensitive remarks made by her and producer Scott Rudin about President Obama in a series of stolen emails that were published online Thursday.

“The content of my emails were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am,” she said in a statement, adding that “although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sonys-amy-pascal-apologizes-for-obama-emails-not-who-i-am-1201377177/

Pascal is a major Democratic donor, who, according to OpenSecrets, gave $5,000 to Obama’s re-election campaign, and $30,800 to the Democratic National Committee. According to the Sunlight Foundation, Rudin, for his part, has donated $18,900 to Democratic presidential candidates. In 2004, The New York Times called him "an active Democrat and party donor."

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-12-11/two-white-hollywood-big-shots-discuss-the-first-black-presidents-taste-in-movies

With "friends" like this.

[JI7]

1. i'm not surprised by this

[Jesus Malverde]

2. I found it shocking and disgusting

Especially from allies.

[JI7]

3. disgusting but not shocking

[LawDeeDah]

14. If supposed allies say these things, imagine what the enemies think/say.

(on second thought, we don't have to imagine do we) Makes me sick how fucking racist this country is, at every level. I would like those two to wear bright flashy B signs for bigots.

[RedCappedBandit]

48. Allies

Their donations don't necessary mean they're allies. People simply want to buy influence; doesn't matter from whom.

[whathehell]

30. Not surprised by the racism -- AM surprised at the serious lack of BRAINS in

thinking that anyone, let alone The Leader of the Free World has interests

revolving SOLEY around his race. Really, people, that's First Class DUMB.

Judging by their names, and in Amy's case, her gender, maybe they

should they be asked if THEIR interests are limited to their Jewishness and

therefore Movies with Jewish themes.

How 'bout we ask Amy if she watches anything other than "chick flicks"?

Oh well..As I said before, we may now have the answer to why so much Brainless Shit

comes out of Hollywood.

[brush]

34. Way to nail it exactly

The dumbness in the emails glares out not in just what they wrote in the emails, but in the fact that they were stupid enough to put it in emails — and these people are running studios.

[Kalidurga]

4. Weird I like all the movies Obama is supposed to like.

[Spazito]

5. I was disgusted when I read these e-mails in a news article...

When Pascal says "“The content of my emails were insensitive and inappropriate but are not an accurate reflection of who I am,” and “although this was a private communication that was stolen, I accept full responsibility for what I wrote and apologize to everyone who was offended.”, it IS an accurate reflection, imo.

Her non-apology apology, "apologize to everyone who was offended", well, fuck that noise. If she was sincere she would simply say she apologizes, full stop, imo.

[Cha]

6. And, who wouldn't be "offended" except racists? It's weird.. I hate it when people talk like this..

like it's freaking funny or something.. "haha".

Wondering why these particular emails were hacked? I haven't gone to the link yet.

Hey Spazito..

[Spazito]

7. Hey Cha! The emails are part of the Sony hack some think was done by...

North Korea because of a movie Sony made about assassinating their leader.

As to the emails, to me, one wouldn't make racist jokes like those in the emails if they weren't racist, it wouldn't occur to them to think that way otherwise, imo.

It is both infuriating and deeply saddening.

[Cha]

9. In the interim I went to link and saw they were hacked by "guardians of peace".. I thought.. wow

that's real peaceful right there. uh huh.

I had no idea it was North Korea though and what a reason.. ooooops!

I brought this over from the link..

"A group calling itself Guardians of Peace has been targeting Sony Pictures since Nov. 24, resulting in the leak of confidential information about executive and star salaries, movie budgets and employees’ personal information. The group also released five new Sony movies on torrent sites, including the upcoming titles “Annie” and “Still Alice.”

I was thinking.. "they must be good.. can they hack bank accounts and steal money, too?" but, since it seems like they are out for a vengeful mission.. maybe they'll stick to sticking it to Sony?!

I would think there's going to be a few repercussions from those they were viciously dissing?

Mahalo Spazito~

[steve2470]

11. +1 nt

[demgrrrll]

8. I find the "thats not really me" apology grating.

The women who made fun of the President's daughters said something along the same lines. Well you wrote it, and it is really you.

[Jesus Malverde]

12. The unvarnished racist is the fake me.

The polished public "loyal dem" is the real me. Never mind how I talk when no one is looking.

We have to wonder how many racist one percenters have access to power, while decent hardworking Americans have none.

[calimary]

51. Me too, demgrrrll! It's bullshit!

It's as bad as that pathetic "it's not who we are" assertion in the face of America-the-Torturer.

Hey Amy Pascal - if you wrote that, then that IS who and what you are. Nobody was holding a gun to your head and forcing you to write those things. Nobody held your family hostage and forced you to do that. You should GO. As in - go AWAY.

[DonCoquixote]

10. how much you wanna bet

They plan to be Major Clinton donors, or that they voted for her in 2008?

[LawDeeDah]

15. They might be the children of this grotesque and stupid thing:

[bigwillq]

13. And these people make more money than I do.

Just really immature and classless.

[KingCharlemagne]

18. I've opposed President Obama on many issues. But I've never once, NOT ONCE,

tied my opposition to his skin color. Nor have I ever once, NOT ONCE, said that he believed any of his positions because of his skin color.

So in addition to your 'really immature' and 'classless,' I'd like to add "Just who the fuck do these people think they are?"

[bigwillq]

20. Great add.

I agree.

[whathehell]

33. Yes, read it and weep..

On the plus side we may now know why so much brainless drivel comes out of Hollywood.

[magical thyme]

17. "not an accurate reflection of who I am"

Oh, ffs, what you believe is private is the most accurate reflection of who you are. Exactly how stupid does she think people are?

Why are 1%ers so consistently creepy and stupid?

[Snotcicles]

43. Thats how they get to be 1%ers, backstabbing, twofacing, doubletalking, lying, so on and so on.

Money and status trumps every principle they may have ever had.

[sendero]

19. The Sony hack job..

.. is providing me endless mirth and entertainment.

One of these days, companies are going to start taking the security of their data seriously. Until then, molotov, I mean mazel tov.

[brush]

35. "Molotov, I mean mazel tov"

Good touch.

Heehee.

[DonCoquixote]

50. This is an old story

Part of the reason I stayed the hell away from Sony is because, back when I was playing DCuniverse, credit cards got hacked, as revenge for the fact that Sony prosecuted someone who set his PlayStation up to be able to play pirated software. This means that this would not only be the second major hack done, but that they did NOTHING to fix security that was already way below standard. I am sure that msoft will be hacked too, but if I was in Seattle, I would have a grin on my face as this screams loud and clear "Do not give Sony your credit card info unless you want to be screwed!"

[Jesus Malverde]

52. The had a folder on the server called "passwords"

Full of Passwords! Guess they were too cheap to pay for proper IT. For a place with something like 10 execs making over a million each they were penny-wise and pound-foolish.

[Vinca]

21. Was the apology to the POTUS or to "if anyone was offended?"

I suppose it doesn't matter. This proves the upper upper crust can be as racist as a goober in a sheet. I'd suggest "vote with your wallet," but they own everything and your paltry sacrifice won't make an iota of difference.

[whathehell]

25. Upper crust or not, they're not just racist, they're STUPID.

How could anyone with a SMIDGEON of brains think that ANYONE,

let along the freaking PRESIDENT OF THE INITED STATES, would limit his

his interests to the subject of his race?

This is serious dumbassery

.

[octoberlib]

22. Harold Ford was just on Morning Joe defending this crap. He said he didn't consider it racist.

"How could somebody who donates all that money to President Obama be racist?" It was pathetic.

[alcibiades_mystery]

28. Whenever they need an African American to deny that something's racist

Harold Ford's phone starts ringing.

White Morning Joe segment producers be like "Racist, or nah?"

[merrily]

32. So, $ can do no wrong, ever. Figures. Ford was once chair of the DLC, the last one, IIRC.

[Mr Dixon]

23. SMH

Not surprised

[whathehell]

24. Could they be MORE stupid?

Seriously..The man is President of the United States and they think the ONLY thing

he identifies with is being Black.

Yes, kids, that' ALL he thinks about -- Too Dumb For Words.

Oh, well, at least now we know why so much Brainless Shit comes out of Hollywood.

[merrily]

26. ....

[grahamhgreen]

27. Can you imagine how much Wall Street donors mock him?

[whathehell]

31. Depends on how dumb (and racist -- yes they overlap, I know) they are.

Seriously...These are not the words of Bright People...He's the president of

the country and they think his INTERESTS are limited to his RACE?!

That is Serious DUMB.

[JustAnotherGen]

29. I find the movie industry interesting

Not just the films, film makers, directors, screen writers, performers etc. etc. - but the business itself. It's a huge US export.

When I read things like this - it reminds me - it really is 'down and dirty' pictures. I've been watching and reading this for a few days now (the movie industry rags picked the racist emails up two days ago) . . . What more else is to come?

If you look at OTHER emails Pascal and Rudin have sent - this IS who she is. And it's HIM to. I'm not letting Rudin off the hook either.

He engaged in all of this bullshit with her.

He who laughs is just as bad - if not worse.

[hfojvt]

37. I have to ask

even though it is risky.

I don't get what is so bad about what they said? Two of my black co-workers were just talking about some Kevin Hart movie (and I was trying to think "who the heck is Kevin Hart? And I was thinking, is he the "King of Queens" guy? Have I seen any of his movies?) and then Charles was kinda stumped trying to think of the name Kevin James, and also of some Kevin Hart movie that I might have seen.

I mean is that one of the most racist things to think about a black person, that they might like movies with black people in them, they might like black actors? Or that a man might like action movies?

[JustAnotherGen]

38. Try this

Why not -

What it's like to raise a teenager?
Commonality of being a 'one of a kind' in a top tier role/position?
Pascal is very well traveled - why not commonality on travel experiences?
Important issues to her as a citizen?
Equal pay/paycheck fairness?




That would be like when I met Sarkozy (former President of France) at a private home - and IF (this an edit) I asked him -

Did you Au Revoir Les Enfants?
Night and Fog?
Eye of Vichy?

ETA - I said hello, we chit chatted, typical french man - flirted/complimented my appearance and then I made a beeline to Cecile.



It appears that she doesn't realize that American men who HAPPEN to be black might have something to themselves other than their blackness.


Like - How about -

What did you think of The American President?
Did you like The West Wing?
What about the movie The Candidate?

^Those wouldn't have made me blink an eye^

[hfojvt]

39. there are lots of possibilities

but what is so bad about what they chose?

You mention West Wing and the Candidate and those are very old news. Django and Twelve Years and The Butler were far more current. And as for travel and raising a teen, well, as a movie executive she wanted to talk about movies.

So I read these emails and then the complaints and I don't see the huge offense. People act like she said

"What am I supposed to talk about with this stupid spade?"

and then he replied

"I know. You better take a crash course in Ebonics. Ha ha ha."

To me, it looks like a couple of friends casually talking about what current movies the President might like. I don't see either of them really revealing that "we have hatred/contempt of black people"

So they stereotyped him a little? That seems like a very human thing to do, but not an action of either malice or contempt. I don't see why they should be put on the pillory, except that it does seem to be a favorite activity in the blogosphere.

[JustAnotherGen]

40. She stereotyped him

And with what has come out about their hiring practices and pay - when you take it all together it looks pretty bad.

Add in that Rudin has a reputation that makes Weinstein look like an altar boy . . . and - yikes!


Actually - if they had said, "The Candidate" - that would have been EXPLOSIVE. Extremely derogatory . . .

Not sure if you are familiar with it - I've seen it dozens of times - Double R Super Star -



snicker snicker






Or - or if she had written -

Should I ask - What do we now?

[whathehell]

41. Okay, then I'll tell you..

It's incredibly stupid to think ANYONE, let alone the President of the United States, for

fuck's sake, identifies ONLY with his race or ethnicity and has INTERESTS that

are limited to such...Who in God's name is THAT one dimensional?

The only people who would "joke" like that are stupid white people who

cannot get PAST the race of someone to see them as the multi-dimensional human

beings they are.

Try this: Do YOU have interests OTHER than your race, whatever that might be?

Get it now?...It's really not rocket science.

[hfojvt]

44. except who ever said that?

That is something people are reading between the lines. Like it was absolutely implied.

Perhaps he identifies enough with his race to like some movies and some actors? Or to be interested in some versus another? Is that a horrible thought? Especially if you do not know that much about the guy.

Try this: if somebody was talking about movies I might like and mentioned a few recent and lauded movies about white people (are there such movies?) and mentioned a white actor that I probably like. Would that absolutely mean they were saying that I had no other interests besides my race?

And even IF somebody said "I bet his favorites are white movies or white actors" would that be such a horrible thing to say about me? So that I should be outraged? Like how dare anybody suggest I like the white equivalent of Kevin Hart?

[whathehell]

47. Let me ask you..Why do you think they considered this a 'joke'?

What WAS the 'joke' to them and why did they feel the need to apologize for it?

When you're able to answer that, I think you will see that it was "absolutely implied"

and your analogy about a "favorite white actor' doesn't apply because they weren't

TALKING about his "favorite" anyone or anything, just any 'black' movie in their minds,

would do, I guess.

The "joke' was he MUST be a fan and ONLY interested in "Black films"

featuring any black actor or storyline - I agree that it's incredibly lame and childish

[LuvLoogie]

55. Oh for fucks sake

Shut the fuck up. And I don't care if I get hidden, flagged or banned. Fuck off.

[SoCalDem]

36. "faux-pology" not accepted.

What one says, in what they expect to be "private" email, is what they really think.. They are only sorry that others saw inside their minds..

You cannot apologize for what you really are. You can admit it..but there is no apologizing.. It's like apologizing for having blue eyes..

[Tatiana]

42. What's sad is that this President has bent over backward trying to cater to this crowd.

And yet they still disrespect and disdain them. He'll never be a part of their wretched club.

[benz380]

45. Apologizes for getting caught. nt

[KingCharlemagne]

56. That's it in a nutshell. "I apologize to anyone who was offended," but, if you

weren't offended, hey, no harm, no foul. I'm so thinking The Great Gatsby right now.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

[alp227]

46. definition of a backstabber nt

[AngryAmish]

49. These are the self appointed people that tell us how to think.

Screw them.

[Tarheel_Dem]

53. Is anyone surprised that there are racists on the left? The AA group certainly isn't. Obama's....

presidency has done many things, but it certainly has brought together the racists on the left and the right. The left is only slightly better at pretending that their sustained opposition to Obama is all about "the issues".

[nruthie]

54. She resembles a ventriloquist's dummy.

Perhaps someone really did put those ugly words in her odd mouth.

[olddots]

57. this just in

Some ultra rich show bizz people are scum bags ...well duh . You don't get to be in thier income bracket by being nice honest people .

[Marr]

58. I would guess Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

He's obviously a sharp guy and that's one smart movie.

[Jesus Malverde]

59. Amy Pascal Calls Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson: "I Want to Accept Responsibility"

After weathering one of the most embarrassing days in her career, during which her racially insensitive remarks were disseminated on the Internet, Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal is ready to begin the "healing process," and reached out to the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

"I'm being proactive," the executive tells The Hollywood Reporter. "And I want to accept responsibility for these stupid, callous remarks."

Pascal said one of the first calls she made today — after a leaked email exchange between her and producer Scott Rudin became the most buzzed-about topics in town and throughout the country — was to Jackson.

"It was a very preliminary conversation, and we just talked about getting together and hoping to discuss a healing process," Pascal said. Of being labeled a racist, she added, "I know it's not true. And I know that doesn't reflect who I am or what I feel or what I've done. That certainly doesn't reflect this studio and what we've done here."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amy-pascal-calls-al-sharpton-756782

The first step she needs to make is recognizing she is racist.