Sony Pictures

Whatever your plans are for next Thursday, Christmas Day, they won’t include going to the movies to watch a silly Seth Rogen movie. That’s because Sony Pictures Entertainment decided late yesterday to cave to threats form Guardians of Peace, a hacker group believed to be responsible for the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack that took place four weeks ago. Guardians of Peace did not want The Interview, a comedy staring Seth Rogen and James Franco, to be shown in theaters. The Guardians of Peace, or someone claiming to be Guardians of Peace, published a threat invoking the terror attacks of September 11.

According to NBC News, unnamed U.S. officials have concluded that the North Korean government ordered the hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Not that I’m surprised. The attack sees too large-scale for a typical criminal hacking group. The size of it suggests that it was state sponsored. What state would have motive to go after Sony over a movie depicting the assassination of North Korea’s Dear Leader in the name of comedy? North Korea, that’s who.

So now nobody will see The Interview, not because they don’t want to, but because North Korea doesn’t anyone to. That bothers me.

I don’t want the government telling me what movies I can or cannot see, not my government, not any government. I especially don’t want North Korea telling me what movies I can or cannot watch. I don’t want even the illusion that North Korea has any control over me or what I do. By canceling the release of this movie, Sony Pictures Entertainment has done just that.

Congratulations Sony Pictures Entertainment. Way to make us look like a bunch of cowards.

Photo: David Goldman/Associated Press

In response to threats by a hacker group known as Guardians of Peace, movie theater chains have begun canceling showings of The Interview, a Seth Rogen and James Franco comedy slated to open on Christmas day. In the movie, Rogen and Franco are journalists who travel to North Korea to interview North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. They are also on a secret CIA mission to assassinate the North Korean Dear Leader. Hilarity ensues.

Evidently North Korea has a problem with the movie. It’s believed that they are behind the Guardians of Peace hacker group and are directly responsible for the giant Sony Pictures Entertainment hack that took place four weeks ago. Sony Pictures is the studio behind The Interview.

It’s hard to really understand how North Korea, or more specifically, Kim Jong Un, could have a problem with The Interview. I realize his assassination is the focus of the movie’s plot, but it’s just a silly Seth Rogen movie. Then again, it’s North Korea. They aren’t known for rational behavior.

If I were in charge at Sony Pictures, I wouldn’t have made The Interview. North Korea is a hornet’s nest that I don’t think is worth kicking, at least not for the sake of a goofy movie. I would no sooner make a comedy involving the assassination of Kim Jong Un then I would make a comedy focusing on destroying Mecca.

Not that I have any love for North Korea or Kim Jong Un. I hate communism and the people who practice it. For me, the Cold War still burns hot. Part of me now wants to go see this movie on Christmas day, if for no other reason than North Korea doesn’t want me to.

Then again, if theaters aren’t showing it, I really can’t go see it.

Update: Sony has decided to scrap the release of The Interview.