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The 8 most embarrassing revelations from the Sony hack

Sony executives are pretty bad at using capitalization and punctuation in their emails.
Sony executives are pretty bad at using capitalization and punctuation in their emails.
Jerome Kundrotas/Shuttershock

After a massive security breach, thousands of private documents, emails, and phone numbers for Sony employees have been leaked. Some of the data released constituted a serious breach of privacy, such as employee Social Security numbers and home addresses. Some of it, however, reflected the often absurd way Sony executives chat with each other.

Here are the eight most embarrassing things found in the Sony hack so far:

1) Hollywood producers sent racist emails about President Obama

Emails between Hollywood film producer Scott Rudin and Sony Pictures Chair Amy Pascal mocked President Obama in a series of racist exchanges. Buzzfeed reported that in the emails, the two debate which movies they should ask Obama about at a fundraising breakfast. Pascal concludes that she bet that the president of the United States preferred movies written by or starring black people.

Rudin responds: "Ride-along. I bet he likes Kevin Hart."

Both parties have since apologized. But their remarks were racist, and many people are still very upset about the lack of action by Sony in response. Here's what Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal had to say:

2) A Sony executive called Kevin Hart a "whore"

After Sony tried to regulate comedian Kevin Hart's postings on social media, the actor asked for money. What resulted was an email exchange between Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal, studio executive Clint Culpepper, and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton in which Culpepper wrote, "I'm not saying he's a whore, but he's a whore."

Hart responded on Instagram saying that he won't be taken advantage of, and knows his self-worth:

kevin hart instagram

3) Sony thinks Angry Birds is popular and exciting

"Greenlight Studies" in the film industry explain why a particular topic was chosen for a film, and why that film will be made (or not made). This is a slide from the greenlight study for the upcoming Angry Birds adaptation arriving summer 2016. Look how "popular" and "exciting" Angry Birds is:

angry birds

Sony Picture (h/t Fusion)

4) Jude Law maybe loves Katy Perry

Several celebrities had their pseudonyms leaked. These fake names are used to maintain the celebrity's privacy, usually when checking into hotels on publicity trips. Some of these fake names are normal, like Natalie Portman's "Laura Brown." Some are silly, like Jessica Alba's "Cash Money."

But Jude Law's "Mr. Perry" is quite something. Does he love Katy Perry? Maybe. We can't know! Fusion has a full list of pseudonyms.

5) The Steve Jobs bio-pic is steeped in controversy

Michael Fassbender is a fairly prolific actor, but Aaron Sorkin, the screenwriter for the upcoming Steve Jobs biopic (formerly at Sony and now searching for a new studio), has no idea who he is, according to Gawker's Sam Biddle.

"I don't know who Michael Fassbender is and the rest of the world isn't going to care," Sorkin told Pascal in an email when informed of the studio's desire to cast Fassbender.

Producer Michael De Luca, who presumably likes Fassbender responded, "He just makes you feel bad to have normal-sized genitalia." The reference is to Fassbender's performance in the film Shame, which featured full-frontal nudity.

Additionally, the producer of the Jobs biopic, Scott Rudin, stirred up plenty of tension when an email he wrote about Angelina Jolie leaked. Rudin and Jolie had a good bit of bad blood because both wanted the same director—David Fincher—for their movies. Rudin then called Jolie a "minimally talented spoiled brat," according to research done by Gawker.

6) There might be a Spider-Man Comedy in the works

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony is considering creating a Spider-Man comedy with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the directors of The Lego Movie and both 21 Jump Street films. Presumably, this could work, because Spider-Man is a funny superhero, but the reaction to this news will most likely be swift and negative, which could kill the idea before it has a chance.

According to Hitfix, Sony also tried to work with Marvel on a new film.

7) There's a whole document of negative employee feedback

A document titled "Sony_2012_Comments" is filled with what appear to be negative employee feedback.

Here is one of the complaints found by Gawker's Sam Biddle:

There is a general "blah-ness" to the films we produce. Althought we manage to produce an innovative film once in awhile, Social Network, Moneyball, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, we continue to be saddled with the mundane, formulaic Adam Sandler films. Let's raise the bar a little on the films we produce, and inspire employees that they are working on the next Social Network. That said, there's a strange dichotomy of encouraging us to be fiscally responsible, but then upper management allows certain talent and filmmakers to bleed us dry with their outlandish requests for private jets, wardrobe and grooming stylists - and are surprised when they are asked to work more than 5 hours to promote their film.

8) Sony execs make terrible PowerPoints

This speaks for itself:

bad sony powerpoint

PowerPoint slide found by Gawker

More bad PowerPoint slides can be seen on Gawker.