Amy Pascal, the co-chairwoman of Sony Pictures, is facing pressure from civil rights leaders to step down from her post, after her racist comments on US President Barack Obama were exposed in the thread of emails hackers leaked online earlier this week.
Reverend Al Sharpton, a civil rights leader is poised to meet with Pascal regarding the issue next week. Pascal has already apologised for the insensitive comments but the private emails that became public property a few days ago, hasn't gone down well with the society.
According to the leaked emails, which were published by Buzzfeed on Wednesday, Pascal and producer Scott Rudin were discussing movies President Obama would prefer. They insinuated that Obama would specifically like movies with black casts and themes like "12 Years a Slave" and "Django Unchained."
In a statement released on Thursday, Sharpton said that the emails were a reflection of the lack of diversity in Hollywood and that Sony needed to "respect the African American community and reflect that respect in their hiring and business practices," Reuters reported.
Sharpton is reportedly pressing for a resignation from Amy Pascal despite her apology on the phone. He, however, will hear her out in person before he asks her to quit her post though.
The comments on President Obama's movie preferences were one of the many embarrassing emails that were leaked by hackers. In an interview with Deadline, Pascal said she was "deeply embarrassed" about the emails but also asserted that the media could be blowing it out of proportion.
"Look, I understand these things are juicy, salacious and tempting to the people who are reading them. I would ask that they reserve some kind of judgment about those stolen emails defining someone. This one e-mail was really hard for me. Otherwise, I realise I'm just going to have to move forward. I cannot worry every day, about the next thing that's going to be read by the town about me, something I said in a moment of weakness, stupidity or tactlessness," she told the website.
