George Clooney Speaks Out About Lack of Sony Support

ABC/Randy Holmes(LOS ANGELES) — In an interview with Deadline published Thursday, George Clooney explained why he feels no one else in the industry stood up for Sony in the wake of the hack attack.

Clooney said Hollywood big shots were all scared that they’d be next on the hackers’ list. They were so fearful, in fact, that they refused to sign a petition that Clooney and his agent, CAA’s Bryan Lourd, passed around in support of Sony. The letter was a call for the major studios to stand together with Sony and back their decision to not give in to the hackers’ demands.

“It was sent to basically the heads of every place,” Clooney said. “They told Bryan Lourd, ‘I can’t sign this.’ What? How can you not sign this? I’m not going to name anyone, that’s not what I’m here to do, but nobody signed the letter.”

Sony ultimately decided to cancel the release of The Interview, the comedy at the center of the controversy for its depiction of North Korea and Kim Jong Un. The hackers had threatened to blow up theaters if the film was released.

“Sony didn’t pull the movie because they were scared; they pulled the movie because all the theaters said they were not going to run it,” Clooney said. “And they said they were not going to run it because they talked to their lawyers and those lawyers said if somebody dies in one of these, then you’re going to be responsible.”

As for where the movie industry goes from here, Clooney says the future remains uncertain. “I’ve seen statements they’ve put out and what the president said and what the response is,” he said. “The truth is, it’s all new territory and nobody knows how to handle it. I don’t think anyone was prepared for it. So now we’ll be prepared for it, hopefully. Everybody was doing their jobs, but somehow, we have allowed North Korea to dictate content, and that is just insane.”

Clooney argues that a “good portion” of the media “abdicated its real duty” in the wake of the hack attack: “There was a real story going on. With just a little bit of work, you could have found out that it wasn’t just probably North Korea; it was North Korea.”

A White House spokesperson on Thursday declined to blame North Korea while addressing reporters Thursday, citing ongoing investigations.