The Real Life "Olivia Pope" is a BEAST... "The Interview" still went on

Background: Just in case you missed this whole debacle with Sony Pictures and North Korea... and racism and email hacks... whew. Here's my 20-second summation of what happened.

Some ~~douchebags~~ creative geniuses came up with a movie premise that was supposed to be a comedy. In the movie, The Interview, the two main characters run a tabloid tv show and they get an opportunity to interview the leader of North Korea. However, they are asked by the US government to turn their interview opportunity into an assassination.

So... in real life... the real leader of North Korea was none too happy about those types of ~~Hollyweird~~ Hollywood shenanigans and asked that the movie be tanked. Then he casually threatened some sort of problems if Sony refused to comply. Being Americans... they chose to chase those dollars and thumb their nose at a sitting leader of North Korea. AND... with due hilarity and embarrassment, North Korea made sure to follow through with their objections by hacking into the Sony Pictures computer system and release a bunch of racist, rude, obnoxious emails by the leadership of the company.

Now... the emails ranged from calling Angelina Jolie a brat to talking about Kevin Hart being a whore for money... and so on. Most of the hacked emails showed a clear propensity for racial stereotyping, general distrust of any minority as a lead in a motion picture and an overall attitude of "we're better than EVERYBODY because we're white and we make movies."

Yeah... it was BAD. And hilariously funny to me.

As a black woman, hell... its been clear for a long time that ~~Hollyweird~~ Hollywood ain't got much love for black folks or even women. The same tired lines about how black lead characters don't sell internationally and how women-led films aren't much better... have been thrown out for a few decades now. Meanwhile, all the douchiest sublimely ridiculous movies get made regularly. To see the leaked messages splashed all across the internet was confirmation for all of us. What you initially only guessed and surmised... you got to see in black and white print.

It. Was. Epic.

While the country is in the throes of terrible racial tensions over far too many dead black bodies in the streets at the hands of police, getting concrete proof in at least one place that some white folks are truly racist as hell and are doing all that they can to hold back other people... well, for me... it was deeply funny. Because black people have been catching hell for a long time and people are really fed up. Funny because we're NOT crazy and we clearly see the patterns around us even if people keep telling us that we're tripping.

Caught up now on the background.

So... after North Korea threatened physical violence against the movie theaters if they decided to show the film, almost all of the movie theaters caved and refused to show the film. Where this one was basically set to become a blockbuster -- it was scheduled to appear on about 3000 screens across the nation, opening on Christmas day -- Sony snatched it from release. Claimed that they were worried about putting customers in danger.

Not sure if I believe that... but okay. Let's pretend that they care. And not that they were caught with their pants around their ankles, feeling embarrassed because they alienated all of their big money makers with unnecessarily ugly rants about them.

How about... our President decided to jump into the fray and basically called Sony some cowards for caving to the pressure of North Korea? Sony clapped back and then... in the boss move of all boss moves....

They hired Judy Smith!

The woman whose life was the inspiration for Olivia Pope of Scandal. Wicked smart move there.

ICYMI: Sony Just Hired The Real Olivia Pope To Help With Its PR Disaster

The real life Olivia Pope is a beast. How do you switch the narrative about a possibly racist, definitely in poor taste movie about the sitting leader of another nation? Simple. You change the conversation around it. Instead of being focused on how disrespectful it is to treat another nation's leadership like a joke (which results in your computer system being hacked and all your racist/rude commentary being exposed to the public)... you make it a patriotic movement to watch it.

"Go see The Interview because... freedom of speech"...

Sony decided to release the movie despite the threats from North Korea (they made a casual statement basically implying that we could expect some 9/11 level carnage if the film was shown). It has now because an issue of patriotism and protecting our freedom of speech to watch this ridiculous film. Since less than 300 theaters agreed to show it, Sony has decided to offer it on streaming sources, like Netflix concurrently with the theater release. Again... cuz... patriotism means that you want to see Americans make jokes about assassinating a current world leader.

Now... we're going to ignore the part of this miserable shift in tactics that implies that this movie has anything to do with freedom of speech. Because... this has nothing to do with that right. Freedom of speech only means that in this country you have the right to speak out against the government without the government retaliating for that. It has nothing to do with the consequences of whatever slander you choose to level at someone else -- or some other country. And while it isn't cool that North Korea basically threatened to eviscerate innocent people who wanted to see this miserable movie... considering that they warned the leadership of Sony months ago, really makes me wonder just how far people will go to make a buck.

We're also going to ignore the fact that if North Korea had made a similar film about assassinating our President, I don't think we'd be good sports about it and telling those people to just go see the comedy film. You know... cuz its just jokes!

Judy Smith is good. Sony? Kinda wack to me.

That girl is good. Completely genius. I'm still not going to see (never was) but you've got to love this movement. Watch Sony figure out how not to lose $45M AND get permission from the public to continue to antagonize world leaders in the name of humor.

The email leaks showed an underbelly to the film industry that I really had not considered. And the creation, execution and marketing of this film really solidify for me that people don't care about you if they can't make a dollar off of you. Unfortunate really.

But wait... there are more questions

Can anyone explain this conundrum to me? How is it soooo difficult to get a movie greenlit with a black lead -- because THAT won't sell worldwide -- yet it is completely possible to spend almost $50M creating a movie that denigrates and suggests assassinating the leader of another nation? A leader who is a minority?

We can't lift up our own minority lead actors because we think the world won't approve of their presence, even though around the world many, perhaps most other countries have minority leadership and are accustomed to seeing minorities in positions of leadership. But we will totally denigrate minority leadership of another nation because we feel entitled to do that. We won't be denied the right to be rude and disrespectful to you... if it will earn a buck.

Are minorities best served as side kicks and punchlines in America? Real question...

Is it really totally valuable that the leader of a minority nation is fair game for ridicule? To the point where we're "joking" about assassinating him? Is that really what's funny in the world?

I'm no fan of N. Korea to be clear. But I find the entire situation quite chuckleworthy.

I am amazed at how quickly Judy Smith turned this situation around. I am deeply saddened that she had to... and I think I'm even more sad that she's so skilled and talented that she got things changed in few days. And finally, how amazing is it that a very white-led industry in an ever-growing browner world, had to reach out to a black woman to fix the mess that they made by having white men ridiculing an Asian leader?

How absolutely sick is that? America... we've got to wake up and do better.

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