Awards shows usually operate as a superficial yet entertaining public relations platform. Events range from the fashionably clad stars’ “who are you wearing” banter on the red carpet, to the 30-second movie clips dispersed throughout the show highlighting what movies you “should be watching.” Last night’s 72^nd Annual Golden Globes Awards, however, shocked us by getting pretty political.

With all that’s been happening in the news recently involving attacks on media, from the Charlie Hebdo shooting to the Sony Pictures hack, Hollywood had a lot to say in defense of the First Amendment. The tone of the show was set in motion by a 10-minute opening monologue from the always-hilarious comedy duo Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who hosted the Globes for their third consecutive and final year. Fey started off:

Tonight we celebrate all the great television shows that we know and love, as well as all the movies that North Korea was ok with.

The Golden Globes, judged by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), didn’t just use the monologue to mock North Korea. Actress and comedian Margaret Cho, dressed as a pale-faced North Korean general and new HFPA member, posed for an awkward selfie with Meryl Streep and joined Fey and Poehler on stage.

Cho, a Korean-American, is no stranger to controversial roles. She dressed as former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il on NBC’s “30 Rock,” for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. I guess critics didn’t find the same pale-faced broken-English impersonation as funny this time, taking to Twitter to call it racist. A debate quickly ensued, with some finding it highly offensive, while others defended it as comedic satire. Was her acting offensive? It was definitely stereotypical and dragged on for far too long, but personally I didn’t find it any more offensive than those parodies shown in “The Interview,” which has reportedly been downloaded or rented more than 4.3 million times online since its Christmas debut.

why is Margaret Cho doing this weird…uncomfortable…racist caricature thing; can this not be a thing

— Lindsay Crockett (@lindsaymcroc) January 12, 2015

Chill on Cho, twitterverse. Her NK satire was brilliant. Not racist. Jennifer Lopez tried to steal @goldenglobes But @margaretcho did.

— Emil Guillermo (@emilamok) January 12, 2015

Nothing was off limits for Fey and Poehler, including rape jokes when they transitioned into Pudding Pop-like impersonations of accused sitcom star Bill Cosby. “I put the pills in the people,” impersonated Fey, “The people did not want the pills in them!”

The Bill Cosby jokes didn’t stop there. When talking about new movie musical “Into the Woods” Poehler joked:

Cinderella ran away from her prince, Rapunzel was thrown from a tower . . . and Sleeping Beauty just thought she was getting coffee with Bill Cosby.

Too soon? After I’d picked my chin up off the floor, I registered just how ballsy the night was getting in terms of comedy risks.

On a more serious note, HFPA President Theo Kingman gave an inspiring mid-show speech reminding the crowd of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attack in Paris. His words were met with a standing ovation from the entire crowd. His speech included:

As international journalists we also understand the importance of freedom of expression, as not only an integral part of the American fabric, but a beacon that is reflected across the globe. Together, we will stand united against anyone who would repress free speech, anywhere from North Korea to Paris.

Rapper Common also shared some uplifting words in his acceptance speech for best original song in a motion picture for his and John Legend’s work in the civil rights drama “Selma.” His words were met with tears from the film’s producer Oprah. Common stated:

As I got to know the people of the civil rights movement, I realized, I am the hopeful black woman who was denied her right to vote. I am the caring white supporter killed on the front lines of freedom. I am the unarmed black kid who maybe needed a hand but instead was given a bullet. I am the two fallen police officers murdered in the line of duty.

Overall, the playful parodies of some current hot button issues upstaged big winners like “Boyhood” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” livening up the relatively boring telecast. The comedy teetered the line of what is offensive, without truly crossing it, and showed that Hollywood still has a sense of humor after an embarrassing and arduous few months.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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In a mess that just won’t end, the Sony hacker scandal has continued to stretch on. Last week, Sony announced that it wouldn’t release The Interview–the movie that has been at the center of the controversy. Despite the fact that the hackers had threatened violent attacks if the movie was shown, Sony received a lot of flack for that call–including from President Barack Obama. However today, Sony backtracked, and annnounced that it is screening The Interview after all.

Sony Entertainment Chairman and CEO Michael Lynton stated:

We have never given up on releasing The Interview, and we’re excited our movie will be in a number of theaters Christmas Day. At the same time we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience.

I want to thank our talent on The Interview and our employees, who have worked tirelessly through the many challenges we have all faced over the last month. While we hope this is only the first step of the film’s release we are proud to make it available to the public and stood up to those who attempted to suppress free speech.

Some theaters have already announced that they are planning on showing The Interview. A theater chain called Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas has said it will be showing the movie. While exactly where it will be showing the film doesn’t appear to have been released yet, the company has locations in Texas, Virginia, Louisiana, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, California, Nebraska, and New York. A theater in Atlanta called the Plaza Atlanta has also said that it will show the film. It should be expected that other movie theaters, though probably smaller chains, will end up showing the movie as well.

This shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, given that one of Sony’s lawyers, David Boies said on Meet the Press on Sunday that it would be released at some point. He explained,

Sony only delayed this. Sony has been fighting to get this picture distributed. It will be distributed. How it’s going to be distributed I don’t think anyone knows quite yet.

Even if Sony hadn’t made their recent decision to release the film, there was a decent chance that we all would have been able to still see the movie. The amorphous hacking group “Anonymous” has said that they would leak it if Sony didn’t release the film.

Overall, people seem pretty excited that The Interview will be released–especially those who were involved in the production of the film. Seth Rogen, one of the co-directors and stars of the film tweeted:

The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn't give up! The Interview will be shown at theaters willing to play it on Xmas day!

— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) December 23, 2014

James Franco, one of the other stars, sent out a few equally jubilant tweets, and even got in a shot at President Obama for mispronouncing his name as “James Flacco” in a press conference last week:

CELEBRATING!!!!! "The Interview" starring Seth Rogen and James Flacco saved by President Obacco! I… http://t.co/VXDy7NFtPe

— James Franco (@JamesFrancoTV) December 23, 2014

So, if you were disappointed that you wouldn’t be able to see The Interview on Christmas, there’s hope. More importantly, Sony’s release of The Interview shows that the company is unwilling to give in completely to the demands of cyberterrorists.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Even though the holidays are fast approaching and a lot of things are starting to slow down in anticipation, the news last week definitely didn’t. The beginning of the week saw the aftermath of a tragic hostage situation in Sydney, Australia, and the Sony hack continued to dominate the news cycle for the rest of the week. Our number one story this week was by Hannah R. Winsten, who wrote about Australia’s amazing response to the horrifying hostage crisis. The number two spot went to Ashley Shaw, with a piece on an off-duty cop arresting a man for stealing his parking spot. Finally, number three went to Anneliese Mahoney, who wrote about the continuing Sony Hacking scandal. ICYMI: check out what everyone was reading on Law Street last week.

#1 Australians School the World on How To Not Be Racist

This is a terrible, awful thing that happened in Sydney, and I think it’s safe to say that our hearts are collectively with the hostages and their families. However, the people of Sydney are handling this tragedy remarkably well. And I mean like, really, REALLY well. People of the United States—and actually, the whole rest of the world—take note. Read the full article here.

#2 Off-Duty Cop Arrests Man for Taking Parking Spot

Frank Maio saw what my sisters would tell you was Princess Parking out in front of a Deerfield Beach shoe store. (Princess Parking, as defined by Urban Dictionary, is “just like rock star parking or prime parking; when one finds the perfect parking spot, right next to or in front of the entrance to wherever he or she is going.”) But when he went to claim the spot, something horrible occurred: Clausel Pierre pulled into the spot first! Read the full article here.

#3 Disturbing New Developments in the Continuing Sony Hacking Scandal

Another day, another leak. It seems like the leaking of some information to do with Hollywood–whether it be nude photos, salaries, or emails–happens on pretty much a weekly basis now. However, this leak from entertainment super-company Sony is probably going to go down in history to top all others. And I don’t think it’s quite done spitting out Hollywood gossip and insider information. Read the full article here.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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A major hacking scandal at the entertainment company Sony has escalated quickly over the last few weeks. It started with leaked information, and has now led to full on terror threats against theaters that show the movie The Interview, a comedy that centers around the premise of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. The release has since been cancelled. The hacker group responsible called themselves “Guardians of the Peace.” This morning, the FBI put out a statement that included the following:

As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions.

Just before 2:00 PM today, President Barack Obama held a news conference to address the Sony issue, among other things. It is his final press conference of 2014.

The first question of the day was, as expected, about the Sony hack.

A Politico reporter asked whether or not Sony made the best choice pulling The Interview. Obama was clear: he thinks that Sony made a mistake. He talked about the need to be able to resist cyber attacks, saying “we’re not even close to where we need to be.” He also emphasized the need for strong cyber security laws that would serve to protect both the public and private sectors. He then made an excellent argument for why Sony’s decision was wrong, saying:

We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship in the United States. Because if someone is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary they don’t like, or news reports they don’t like. Or even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of someone whose sensibilities need to be affected. That’s not who we are. That’s not what America’s about.

He continued to emphasize the need to stand against terrorist demands, because of the slippery slope to which it could lead, specifically referencing North Korea in this case–not a surprising move given that the FBI had already done so. He said there would be a response, but he wasn’t going to go into detail today, emphasizing the need for international cooperation on the issue of cyber security. Later, in response to another question, he pointed out that despite the international aspect, there’s no evidence to indicate that North Korea was working with any other country.

It’s been a long few weeks for Sony, and the idea that a foreign government could use cyber-terrorism to intimidate an American company is concerning. But President Obama was right–negotiating and giving in to terrorists may be even more dangerous down the road. While his plan about how to respond to North Korea was, completely understandably, very vague, I have a feeling the White House may need to take tough actions here to mitigate Sony’s caving to the cyberterrorists’ demands.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post President Obama: Sony Made a Mistake Pulling “The Interview” appeared first on Law Street.

The evil United States, a terrifying and corrupt country hell-bent on wreaking havoc on our world and threatening everything for which North Korea stands is on the offensive again. Our authorities recently uncovered a sinister, in-depth plot by an overweight Jewish comedy actor and his pretentious, marijuana-smoking sidekick. With a team of United States-based terrorist filmmakers, Seth Rogen and James Franco are maliciously plotting to create and release a comedy movie later this year telling of the fictional assassination of our fearless leader, Kim Jong-Un. We must take action immediately by threatening the entire country with bloody warfare, a threat on which we shall never take action! Doing so won’t make us seem too sensitive and prone to overreaction at all!

We must continue to perpetuate the stereotype that North Korea runs by shoving propaganda down the throats of its citizens. To maintain the enormous facade that our country is a complete utopia despite our detention camps and atrocious living situations, we must threaten the other countries who criticize us! No more will we stand idly by while world leaders and American actors insult us! Yes, it is time to take a stand and use our best weapon against these demons among humanity — our empty threats!

Rogen, Franco, and their companions in crime plan to release The Interview, a clearly fictional comical story about journalists assassinating our esteemed leader, this October. Not if we have anything to do with it! We shall release a public statement informing not just the United States but the entire world of our war plans that will never come to light.

Our fearless leader and I spent all morning concocting the perfect statement. We are pretty thrilled with it. We intend to tell the media that we will respond mercilessly and resolutely unless the United States bans the release of this film. We know that all of you are simply outraged by this provoking act on behalf of our enemy country, and that if you are not, you will at least pretend to be to avoid punishment. We have not actually seen a trailer for the film, but know with our mystical powers that it will be offensive. We just know it. The ring-leader of this operation, Seth Rogen, even Tweeted that he hopes our beloved leader will like The Interview. What’s Tweeting, you ask? Um, nothing… forget I said anything.

—

Marisa Mostek (@MarisaJ44) loves globetrotting and writing, so she is living the dream by writing while living abroad in Japan and working as an English teacher. Marisa received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a certificate in journalism from UCLA. Contact Marisa at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Zscout370 via Wikimedia]

Marisa Mostek

Marisa Mostek loves globetrotting and writing, so she is living the dream by writing while living abroad in Japan and working as an English teacher. Marisa received her undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado in Boulder and a certificate in journalism from UCLA. Contact Marisa at staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

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