Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Chairman Chris Dodd, a former Democratic senator for Connecticut, regrets not vocally backing Sony Pictures following the massive cyberattack on the movie studio.
“In retrospect I wish I’d spoken out more,” Dodd told entertainment news outlet Variety. “But you live and learn and you move on. Now Sony is back on its feet, and the industry is pulling together around it.”
{mosads}Dodd’s comments Friday were his first extended thoughts on the incident, which occurred nearly two months ago. Hackers shut down Sony’s networks, leaked embarrassing internal documents and emails and nearly forced the studio to bury a multimillion-dollar film.
Sony is still working to get its network functioning, but said its insurance should cover most of the expected tens of millions of dollars in fallout costs. The film studio is also facing multiple class action lawsuits from former employees who had their Social Security numbers and other personal data exposed in the digital hit.
“This was a historic event when you consider the magnitude of the problem,” Dodd said. “It was the largest hack in this country’s history. Just a massive undertaking caused by a foreign government.”
Dodd spent 36 years in Congress, 30 of them as a senator.
The film lobbying group was working on a statement of industry support but never issued the statement, Variety reported.
“This happened to a member of our family,” Dodd said. “This was an attack on free speech and private property and as the head of the MPAA, I should have been more vocal.”
Sony received considerable industry criticism for temporarily axing the Christmas Day release of “The Interview,” a comedy about a U.S. plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The company eventually rolled the film out online and through independent theaters.
“If you said to me, what’s the one thing that has been responsible for the 100 years of success of the American film industry, I’d point to one thing — it’s freedom of speech,” said Dodd. “We have always been a great advocate for freedom of expression and speech, and I don’t represent anybody who doesn’t embrace that value.”