SONY SURRENDERS IN ‘KOREAN WAR’
‘Interview’ geets hacked to death
The United States has lost its first cyberwar — to North Korean despot Kim Jongun.
Sony Pictures canceled the release of the radioactive Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy, “The Interview,” on Wednesday after terror threats by the dictator’s hacker henchmen sparked a boycott by America’s biggest theater chains.
Sony’s cavein comes as US intelligence officials confirmed to The Post that a monthlong onslaught of leaked inhouse data and escalating threats against the studio and potential audience members are, indeed, Kim’s handiwork. The dumpy dictator has denied responsibility
while praising the hackers, a group calling itself “Guardians of Peace.
“The Interview” is “an act of war,” Kim griped of the movie, which depicts him being assassinated via a missile that blows up his head.
After scuttling the movie’s Christmas release, Sony went a step further, announcing Wednesday night that the film would never see the light of day, either on DVD or throught any kind of online digital release or ondemand TV.
News of the film’s demise sparked an online outcry by such odd bedfellows as actor Rob Lowe and GOP stalwart Newt Gingrich.
“Saw @Sethrogen at JFK,” Lowe tweeted. “Both of us have never seen or heard of anything like this.
“Hollywood has done Neville Chamberlain proud today,” Lowe added, referring to Britain’s notorious, Hitler-appeasing prime minister.
Gingrich soon weighed in, slamming Sony’s capitulation as a “very very dangerous precedent.”
“It wasn’t the hackers who won,” he tweeted in response to Lowe. “It was the terrorists and almost certainly the North Korean dictatorship. This was an act of war.”
Gingrich continued, “No one should kid themselves. With the Sony collapse America has lost its first cyberwar.”
Mitt Romney urged the studio to stand its ground, tweeting “@SonyPictures don’t cave, fight: release @TheInterview free online globally. Ask viewers for voluntary $5 contribution to fight #Ebola.”
In an interview with ABC News Wednesday, President Obama said: “The cyber attack is very serious. We’re investigating, we’re taking it seriously.”
Sony pulled the plug on the movie hours after Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment and Cinemark — the country’s three biggest theater chains — joined Cineplex Entertainment and Carmike Cinemas in saying they would not screen it.
“Remember the 11th of September 2001,” the hackers said in a statement issued Tuesday, warning that “The Interview” audience members would be risking their lives.
In other developments Wednesday, government sources told Reuters that they feared the hackers may never be brought to justice if they are under Kim’s protection.