Psaki Denies Sony E-mail Claim that State Dept. Approved Kim Jung-Un Assasination Scene
PSAKI: "Department officials, just so all of you know, routinely meet and consult informally with a wide range of private groups, certainly including executives from movie studios and a range of private sector companies and individuals secret – seeking information about U.S. foreign policy and U.S. views on developments around the world. Our message in public and private is the same: We respect artists and entertainers’ rights to – right to produce content of their choosing. We have no involvement in such decisions. We’re not in the business of signing off on content of movies or things along those lines. I know there were a range of different reports out there, so let me just see if I can address some of them and then we’ll get to your next question. While I’m not, obviously, going to speak to the specifics of the allegedly leaked emails, I can confirm for you that Assistant Secretary Russel did have a conversation with Sony executives, as he does routinely with a wide range of private groups and individuals to discuss foreign policy in Asia. Bob King, contrary to reports, did not view the movie and did not have any contact directly with Sony. As we have – as we’ve noted before, entertainers are free to make movies of their choosing, and we are not involved in that."
NN REPORTER: "So Assistant Secretary Russel in his conversations with the Sony executives – if they got – if those executives got the impression that he was saying it’s okay to do this, they were mis – getting the wrong impression?"
PSAKI: "Well, I think – I don’t think any executive would want the State Department or the United States Government to be in the business of signing off on the content of their movies or television shows or whatever it may be. But of course, there’s a lot of information that we all know about North Korea and the fact that they have one of the worst human rights records out there, that they have consistently put out threats against the United States. And certainly, we share information that is publicly available with executives as well."
