Sony exec whose hacked "insensitive" emails were made public, steps down

Amy Pascal

AMY PASCAL, the Sony Pictures executive who was in the eye of the storm created by the hacking by (allegedly) North Korea, is resigning her co-chairman post according to a report by Mike Fleming of Deadline Hollywood.

The highly damaging corporate hacking of Sony revealed slews of private emails amongst and about some of Hollywood's biggest names. A portion of the report:

Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures and chairman of the Motion Picture Group, has been at the forefront of the hack attack scandal pretty much from the beginning, after the massive breach of company data was first revealed on November 24. Among the troves of documents made public by the hacking group were racially insensitive emails between Pascal and producer Scott Rudin about President Obama. In the private exchange, the two joked that the President’s favorite films are black-themed movies like "Django Unchained" and "12 Years A Slave."

After the emails were revealed, Pascal met with the likes of Rev. Al Sharpton to quell anger over what Sharpton “cultural blindness” displayed in the emails.

Pascal will remain with Sony but will launch a new production venture. 

Since the Nov. 24 hacking, supposedly in retaliation for the studio's movie The Interview that spoofed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, there were some criticism coming from minority groups associated with the movie industry because it appeared that Pascal kept her high-level position and apparently was not being punished or reprimanded for the views represented in the emails.

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

This is the other shoe being dropped.

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