Miscommunication Or Something More? Hollywood Execs Say They Never Received George Clooney’s Hacking Petition
Dec. 24 2014, Published 1:47 p.m. ET
George Clooney might be a better actor than grassroots activist.
The 53 year old recently went on a diatribe, sniping in an interview with Deadline that Hollywood’s top studios “ran for the hills” after he and his agent, Bryan Lourde, begged executives to sign a petition supporting Sony Pictures.
The two hoped to draw the show business community together fight against threats like North Korea’s hacking attack over The Interview, a film about two journalists hired to kill the country’s ruthless dictator, Kim Jong Un.
The only problem? Nobody knew anything about the petition.
"I never heard of it until I saw press about a petition not getting signed," one studio head, who asked to remain anonymous, tells The Hollywood Reporter. "No one I know has heard of it. We were just discussing that, of course, we would've signed it, but we had never heard of it, and these were a lot of high-level industry people."
And reps for Disney, 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate were reportedly never given the petition to sign either.
Still, Clooney refuses to believe the excuse that ignorance is bliss.
“Bryan asked several people to sign on to the petition,” the star insists. “One said he would if others did, and the rest said, flat-out, 'No.'”
The petition included a call to support the embattled studio, reading in part:
This is not just an attack on Sony. It involves every studio, every network, every business and every individual in this country. That is why we fully support Sony’s decision not to submit to these hackers’ demands. We know that to give in to these criminals now will open the door for any group that would threaten freedom of expression, privacy and personal liberty. We hope these hackers are brought to justice but until they are, we will not stand in fear. We will stand together.
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