RNC Chairman Addresses Movie Theater Owners; Obama Says Sony Should Have Consulted Him
SAVIDGE: There was a new political voice weighing in on Sony's decision to yank "the Interview" after Sony suffered a large-scale cyber attack and threats removed the planned release. The Republican national committee chairman, that is Reince Priebus, just sent a very strong message to movie theatre owners. And our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter got this exclusive story. He joins me now on the phone. And Brian, what exactly is the RNC leader saying to theatre owners, and why?</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES (via phone): He's saying, I want to speak clearly on behalf of the Republican party. I urge you to show the movie. It's an interesting twist, Martin, because we are, you know, now seeing this sense of public pressure on Sony and on theater owners to have "the Interview" actually be screened in theatres. This comes a few days after Sony pulled the movie. And Sony says it pulled the movie only because theater owners, big chains like AMC and Regal, decided not to run the movie at all. Basically, Sony says they had nowhere to air it. So what is happening now is there is pressure being put on theater owners and that's where this letter is directed to. We can put part of it on screen because this is the most interesting part, I think. Priebus says, as a sign of my commitment, if you agree to show this movie, I will send a note to the Republican Party's millions of donors and supporters urging them to buy a ticket, not to support one movie or Hollywood, but to show North Korea we cannot be bullied into giving up our freedom. Martin, I think what's significant here is the Republican Party and perhaps other politicians as well are seeing this as an opportunity to stand up against North Korea and support freedom of expression.</s>SAVIDGE: Right. But they're asking Sony to basically bear the brunt of it here. I mean, how -- what is Sony supposed to say to something like that?</s>STELTER: Well, right now Sony has no comment. I actually just got a text message from the spokesperson there saying they're not going to comment on this RNC letter. What I'm curious about is to find out whether the theater owners, the AMCs and the Regales and the Cinemark's (ph), whether they are going to comment because there are active discussion this weekend between Sony and the theater owners and other potential distributors, maybe Netflix, maybe You Tube, to find out if any of them are now willing to step up and help Sony release this movie. You know, Sony's point of view, rightly or wrongly, is they can't do it themselves. They need some help. And that's what I think is -- why it's interesting now that Priebus is coming forward, calling on the theater owners to help. He said this, like many Americans, I'm deeply concerned we would allow a foreign regime to dictate the movies we can and cannot watch. It's that kind of rhetoric that we may see from others in the days to come also.</s>SAVIDGE: So how far do we go with this? Do we then say it's the patriotic duty of every American citizen to go to those theaters to watch that movie, because we are not going to take it from North Korea?</s>STELTER: You know, on one level it sounds absurd, doesn't it? On another level, though, it tugs at people's patriotism in a way that I think a lot of folks are feeling. I have been seeing this on twitter and facebook for the last two days. People calling on Sony to reverse these decisions. The letter, by the way, also says that the Republican national committee suggests that a portion of the profits from the theater owners and Sony should be donated to the USO or the yellow ribbon fund if they do indeed decide to go ahead and release this movie now. You know, it's been cancelled for a few days now, that Christmas release is off. But I do think we're going to see this movie come out in some way, some form, and the Republican national committee here is getting ahead of that with this letter.</s>SAVIDGE: And, you know, I'm in agreement with you that I think many people believe that it is totally inappropriate that some of the nation dictate what the American populists can get to see. It would be very interesting to see how this can twist, though, in the American commercial society of the movie business. I mean, essentially, now the pressure is going to be on the movie theaters, show that movie.</s>STELTER: That's right.</s>SAVIDGE: Or I may not come in the future.</s>STELTER: That's right. It's a very interesting situation. And it's a little bit of a strange bedfellow situation. And you know, the Republican Party isn't the closest to Hollywood. I think we all know the impression Democrats and liberals being much closer to Hollywood. And actually Priebus acknowledges that in his letter. Maybe this is the rare issue that can actually unite almost everybody in the country. Nobody in the United States wants to feel bullied by a cyber hacker from anywhere whether North Korea or somewhere else.</s>SAVIDGE: Wow. That's an interesting idea. All right, Brian Stelter, thank you very much. Let's bring in Mel Robbins, she is, of course, CNN commentator, analyst. And Mel, you've got to be chomping at the bit here. But this is an interesting dynamic that place out how a political battle between nations could boil down to whether you sit in the movie theater seat.</s>MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR/LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you know, I heard Brian say something really interesting, which is he thinks that it's going to come out at some point, and it already has. Over the break, we noticed that the assassination scene of all scenes has already been leaked online. So if anybody wants to watch it for free, you can watch it online right now. But you know, this is what I think is really important. Sony stood alone, Martin, for three weeks, the White House wouldn't stand by him, Hollywood executives would not sign a petition that George Clooney was circulating around, basically urging people to stand together in Hollywood. Movie theater owners would not stand with him, and why? The reason why nobody would stand with him is because the threat was credible. These hackers had terabytes of information. They have only released a tiny amount of what they have on hand. And they also, keep in mind, threatened anybody that goes to a movie theater to watch it. And on top of it, you've got to weigh in the fact that Sony now has a class action lawsuit that's been filed against them by their employees, because of the information, the medical records, the salary information, the Social Security numbers that came out of the Sony employees. And these hackers have made it very clear that they will do nothing else, as long as the movie isn't released. If Sony now buckles to public pressure and releases it, and they don't have the backing and the protection of the FBI and of the White House, and they're doing it solo, they are putting their employees, Martin, in harm's way. It's a really, really fascinating and I think difficult decision they have in front of them.</s>SAVIDGE: I agree. It's an extremely difficult and I can't imagine for the individual theaters what do they do, bring on extra security, are there supposed to be anti terrorist groups that are standing by to respond to the local multiplex theater? I mean, I just don't see where this goes. But it's an amazing development here.</s>ROBBINS: Absolutely. I mean, you know, the other question is you distribute it online. Are you going to log on to your Netflix account with your information online knowing there are hackers out there preying on people that are watching this movie, and they could easily, I'm sure, if they can find the Sony CEO's passwords, I'm sure they can find yours. And keep in mind, this plays so well into the dictator's hands. Since 1990, North Korea has had a military first policy, martin, where they have basically starved and terrorized their citizens, and they have operated on a system of isolation. And so this is a very important piece of the dictator's narrative. He's basically able to tell his countrymen that the U.S. is putting out a movie in which they have him killed. And he's also able to tell his countrymen that look, I am feared by the United States. I have defeated the United States. I have made the evil United States not release this movie where they're trying to kill me. And he has been able to put this message out there, without any kind of physical threat. And so this --</s>SAVIDGE: But I will --</s>ROBBINS: Part of a very strategic -- go ahead, I'm sorry.</s>SAVIDGE: Well, I will just point out that it may turn on him yet. I mean, we are still watching this develop. It is quite possible that suddenly the American public says, you know what, I'm going to go see that movie, and they're going to show up in numbers that Sony never would have dreamed. Mel Robbins, thank you very much. We're going oh have to leave it there. We got other news we're following. We'll continue to follow Sony, as well. Thank you very much. We'll have more on the police shooting coming up after this.