While we've been passing up more Sony stories than we've been posting this week (since we're declining to publish gossip-y emails and speculative scoops related to the hack), the fact remains that there is some actual, material news coming out of this situation.  And whenever the President of the United States weighs in on status of the new Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg film, that feels like movie news to me.

On the heels of the FBI's confirmation that North Korea was behind the cyber-attack on Sony, President Barack Obama took his year-end speech as an opportunity to address the situation, denouncing Sony's decision to cancel the release (going so far to remove clips of the film from the internet) of The Interview.  And I agree with him almost 100%.  Hit the jump for more on Obama's comments regarding Sony, The Interview, and not giving in to terrorists.

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President Obama told reporters:

"I am sympathetic to the concerns that they face. Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake.  Let's not get into that way of doing business.  We cannot have a society in which some dictators someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States because if somebody is able to intimidate us out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing once they see a documentary that they don't like or news reports that they don't like. That's not who we are. That's not what America is about."

This is one hundred percent on point.  One need look no further than the terrorist's continued demands this morning that the film never be released in any way, shape or form.  You can't give an inch to bullies, or they'll take everything they can from you and they will keep coming back for more.  Also, now that Obama's not up for re-election, I'm enjoying his ability to be more candid than he would otherwise feel prudent.

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