Sony’s Amy Pascal meeting with Al Sharpton today over leaked emails

Embattled Sony Pictures Entertainment co-Chairman Amy Pascal will meet with the Rev. Al Sharpton in New York on Thursday, a week after she apologized for a leaked email exchange in which she made racially insensitive remarks about President Obama.

Sharpton is among the chorus of critics who have suggested that Pascal should resign since the emails were released.

A spokeswoman for Sharpton confirmed that the two were scheduled to meet in Manhattan on Thursday morning after Pascal called Sharpton to discuss the emails.

It is the latest indication of the pressure Pascal and Sony have faced since being besieged by a Nov. 24 cyberattack in which hackers scooped up confidential documents, emails and employee information. It ultimately led to the cancellation of the release of the studio giant’s “The Interview” over hackers’ threats to security at movie theaters.

In a November 2013 email exchange leaked by the hackers, Pascal asked producer Scott Rudin what she should talk to Obama about at a breakfast event hosted by DreamWorks Animation.

“Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?” she wrote, referring to the film about a freed slave. Later in the exchange, Pascal wondered if she should ask Obama if he liked two other African American-focused films, “The Butler” and “Think Like a Man.”

Pascal apologized last week, calling the comments “insensitive and inappropriate, but not an accurate reflection of who I am.”

The emails were a small portion of the trove of information released by the hackers, who have called themselves the Guardians of Peace. Also leaked were full versions of Sony movies, including some that have not been released, and Social Security numbers of employees.

Federal officials on Wednesday said they had determined that North Korean officials had ordered the hackers to carry out the cyberattack.

Pascal’s meeting with Sharpton comes as calls for the executive’s ouster grew more strident. On Thursday, African American advocacy group ColorOfChange demanded a meeting with top Sony executives, and called on the company to fire Pascal immediately.

“Judging by what these tasteless jokes say about Amy Pascal’s attitudes towards black people, we don’t think she has any business sitting at the top of an influential, media juggernaut like Sony Pictures Entertainment,” said Rashad Robinson, the group’s executive director, in a statement. “Her actions were unacceptable, and are indicative of larger problems at Sony Pictures.”

ColorOfChange claims that more than 30,000 of its members have called on Pascal to be fired. In 2012, the organization mounted a boycott targeting Coca-Cola over its ties with a conservative lobbying group. It also organized an advertising boycott of conservative TV show host Glenn Beck over his 2009 remarks accusing Obama of racism.

Times Staff writer Daniel Miller contributed to this report.

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