Obama: Sony 'made a mistake' by canceling 'The Interview'

President Barack Obama said Friday that Sony Pictures "made a mistake" when it pulled its comedy The Interview in the face of threats by hackers that the FBI said are from North Korea.

Speaking at his year-end press conference, Obama said he was "sympathetic" to Sony's situation. The company had just had its computer network sabotaged and huge amounts of internal data leaked, and the hackers who did it then threatened violence against theaters that showed the movie.

"Having said all that, yes, I think they made a mistake," Obama said.

"I am sympathetic that Sony as a private company was worried about liabilities," the president said. "I wish they had spoken to me first. I would have told them, do not get into a pattern in which you are intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks." Read more...

More about Barack Obama, North Korea, Film, Us World, and Politics