Kevin Hart was the subject of several emails from Sony movie executives, which were released during Sony’s recent security breach. In an email, Hart was referred to as a whore because he wanted extra money to promote Think Like a Man Too on his social media accounts.
Sony executives Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton and Clint Culpepper probably thought the last thing that would happen was that their emails would be made public, but in the world of hacking and security breaches, it bees like that sometimes.
Here’s what Culpepper had to say about Hart:
It's not as if we paid him 3M and 4M respectively for his last 2 films thinking he might be nominated. We paid for his ability to open a film which included his social media savvy. I feel like this is something that should be negotiated going into the film as opposed to after the fact. It feels tantamount to buying a car and then upon picking it up being told that the engine will cost extra. I'm tempted to suggest we call his bluff. If he doesn't do his normal routine, his film will not open as well and his brand will appear diminished and he will—in fact—be [f—king] himself because we have his next 2 immediate films. And then there's the social media precedent we're setting … especially in light of the fact that Channing is at the same agency.
Hart, who is fairly active on social media, posted an Instagram post that could be taken as a subliminal reference to the incident:
Hart didn’t specifically point out and mention the Sony executives, but maybe he should have? In Chris Rock’s recent essay about the wonders of white Hollywood, he didn’t hold back how he was feeling, and this recent Sony breach shows exactly how these white executives in Hollywood feel about the people bringing in the big bucks, and also how they feel about our black president.
This incident is yet another reason black entertainers need to be more than their own brand, but also their own studios, own agents, own everything. If not, there will always be these “Oh, I have black friends and donate to liberal causes” racists making the big bucks off their backs.
Also on The Root: “Sony Executive Issues Apology for Obama Race Jokes in Leaked Email”