AP Wire Service
“The Interview,” a Sony Pictures film starring Seth Rogen and James Franco depicts an assassination attempt on Kim Jong Un
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FBI said Friday it is investigating threatening e-mails sent to some employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was hit by a cyber attack last week that disrupted its computer system and spewed confidential information onto the Internet.
The FBI was trying to identify the person or group responsible, the agency said in a statement. It did not provide any details.
However, the trade paper Variety said the e-mail written in broken English claimed to be from the head of the GOP — short for Guardians of Peace — the same group that took credit for last week’s attack.
“Removing Sony Pictures on earth is a very tiny work for our group, which is a worldwide organization. And what we have done so far is only a small part of our further plan,” the e-mail read.
Later, the e-mail warns employees, “Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the e-mail address below if you don’t want to suffer damage. If you don’t, not only you but your family will be in danger.”
“Make your company behave wisely,” the e-mail urges.
The Los Angeles Times reported the e-mail was received Friday.
A Sony spokesman confirmed in an e-mail to the Times that “some of our employees have received an e-mail claiming to be from GOP” and said the company was working with law enforcement.
Employees were told to turn off their mobile devices after receiving the message, Variety said, citing Sony insiders it did not name.
Messages from The Associated Press to Sony representatives were not immediately returned.
Recently, hackers released personal information for thousands of Sony employees online, including some Social Security numbers and the purported salaries of top executives. Five movies, including the unreleased “Annie,” also have shown up on file-sharing websites.
On Nov. 24, workers who logged onto Sony Pictures’ network saw a skeleton and the message “Hacked by (hash)GOP.”
There has been speculation that North Korea was behind the attacks in retaliation for the upcoming movie “The Interview,” a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that depicts an assassination attempt on that country’s leader, Kim Jong Un.
North Korea denied involvement Thursday.
Some cybersecurity experts say they’ve found striking similarities between the code used in the hack of Sony Pictures
Entertainment and attacks blamed on North Korea that targeted South Korean companies and government agencies last year.
Experts are divided, however, over the likelihood that North Korea or independent hackers were involved. (end)
Sony has now announced that this movie will not be distributed in theaters. I wonder whether anyone is discussing not only the withdrawal of the movie from distribution but why it was ever greenlighted in the first place. Regardless of any political perspectives, would any movie have been considered funny and marketable if it depicted the assassination of another, however despicable, real sitting head of state if that real person had not been Asian? In short, was a depiction of the assassination of a real life individual considered acceptable only because he was someone who it was OK to view as a “non-person”?
I agree and had a similar reaction. Asians are at the bottom of the Hollywood pecking order, and are used as convenient scapegoats for everyone else with a racist bias to dump on. Almost every time there an Asian or reference to something Asian in a movie there is a racial slur. No doubt Kim deserves criticism for being a dictator, but I don’t know of any other recent movie where the plot is about killing a current head of state. I don’t think its a coincidence that Hollywood chose an Asian for the target.