Poll: Was Sony right to pull the The Interview?

 

Thursday 18 December 2014 12:34 GMT
Comments
‘The Interview’ film was denounced by a North Korean website as a conspiracy movie which deserved ‘stern punishment’
‘The Interview’ film was denounced by a North Korean website as a conspiracy movie which deserved ‘stern punishment’

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Hollywood is on war footing this morning. Rob Lowe – that handsome bloke in Parks and Recreation – has compared Sony’s decision to pull The Interview to Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler. Judd Adaptow is spitting frogs. Ben Stiller and Steve Carell can’t raise a smirk between them, both lamenting the collapse of freedom of expression.

But was it the right call? Threats had been made of an attack similar to 9/11, and America’s five biggest cinema chains had already pulled out of the release.

With the Adam Lanza shooting at the Dark Knight premiere still fresh in the memory, is it better safe than sorry? Or is Hollywood's "right to take the piss" now irreversibly undermined?

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in