When Sony Entertainment was hacked recently, allegedly by North Korea, as much as 100 TB of company files were leaked to the public. That’s too much for anyone to comprehensively search through to find the juiciest bits.
But the company sent an angry letter to Twitter, asking it to censor a particular account. So now we know what Sony’s most embarrassed about.
The letter itself means business. Written by superstar attorney David Boies—he’s represented major names, including Microsoft, Napster, and former Vice President Al Gore in Bush v. Gore, and he successfully argued against California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage—the letter demands, on Sony’s behalf, Twitter’s “cooperation in suspending the Account Holder’s Twitter account and the account of any other user seeking to disseminate the Stolen Information via Twitter.”
The account holder in question, the only one Boies names, is Val Broeksmit, a London-based musician who goes by @BikiniRobotArmy.
Much included in Broeksmit’s tweets, embedded below, is insider gossip involving movie stars: Brad Pitt’s unhappy with cuts to his latest movie; Kevin Hart makes a fortune just tweeting about his latest release; and executives claim movies starring African-Americans don’t rake in money.
#sonyhackemails #sonyhack #bradpitt #FuryMovie brad pitt emails pt 2. still furious at sony for cutting fury scenes pic.twitter.com/SeryFNmzOH
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 13, 2014
Sony pays #KevinHart $2million just to tweet about #TheEqualizer. #DenzelWashington #SonyHack #AmyPascal #SonyEmails pic.twitter.com/d0KzA4uOvv
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 22, 2014
‘Sony Loves Denzel..but AA Actors make less money at Sony’- #SonyHack #AmyPascal #DenzelWashington @sylvester_tani pic.twitter.com/DveyXjhNB9
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 22, 2014
Others focused on executives’ gossip. Award-winning producer Scott Rudin defended director Danny Boyle and actor Michael Fassbender over Jobs’s flop. Amy Pascal, Co-Chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, thought director Cameron Crowe was being annoying over a currently untitled upcoming film, while others get frustrated at director David Fincher. Consultant Cynthia Swartz thought Interstellar was just awful. CEO Michael Lynton seems to be begging his colleagues for an unqualified family friend to get an audition.
#ScottRudin makes sense, Defends #DannyBoyle and #MichaelFassbender for #SteveJobs fiasco. #SonyHack #SonyEmails pic.twitter.com/eSugWYuc9G
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 20, 2014
cc = #CameronCrowe / #BradWeston emails #AmyPascal and #ScottRudin. backstabbing chat at cc’sHawaii Project #sonyHack pic.twitter.com/o4bueuFLb8
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 19, 2014
Sony Hates Interstellar..maybe just loyalty? #ScottRudin #AmyPascal #ScottRudin #CynthisSwartz #SonyHack #SonyEmails pic.twitter.com/JstzzJiRIB
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 19, 2014
is this weird or am I reading it wrong?(Black is worth 5.8 billion)#ScottRudin #SamanthaRessler #SonyHack #SonyEmails pic.twitter.com/BdQkDwKhgK
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 18, 2014
“Welcome to the world of #DavidFincher ” – #ScottRudin#SonyHack #SonyLeaks #AmyPascal #AaronSorkin #AriEmanuel #jobs pic.twitter.com/qfoW3IuhsL
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 17, 2014
Here’s a hacker group calling itself “God’sApstls” demanding money from Sony to not hack their systems. Note they make no mention of The Interview, that they have a different name than the group that took credit for the Sony hack (they’re called Guardians of Peace), and that both groups speak in pretty bad English.
Look what i found in ML’s inbox! (Nov.21 2014) don’t think it N.Koreans.#SonyHack #SonyEmployees #NorthKorea #GOP pic.twitter.com/Ygsohfd6xw
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 18, 2014
Here are nods to future movies: Captain America 3, the Avengers 3 and 4, a Quentin Tarantino movie called The Baby Blue Marine, a new James Bond film called Spectre, and a movie starring Tom Hardy and directed by Doug Liman called Everest.
Captain America 3 – Avengers 3 and 4, already in the works.. #MichaelLynton #SonyEmployees #AmyPascal #SonyEmails pic.twitter.com/D4zGJtAure
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 18, 2014
#QuentinTarantino‘s new movies, #TheHateFulEight and #BabyBlueMarine loved by #AmyPascal and the rest of us#SonyHack pic.twitter.com/MxtIt7RO9H
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 17, 2014
#JamesBond script #SPECTRE page. #SonyHack #SonyLeaks #sonyemails pic.twitter.com/YWbt2EIHfK
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 16, 2014
New #DougLiman flick with #tomhardy – #Everest , sounds good.#SonyHack #SonyLeaks #sonyemails #dougbelgrad pic.twitter.com/Ir0fFW0PK2
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 17, 2014
Finally, @BikiniRobotArmy leaked a bit about Seth Rogen comedies, particularly interesting because his The Interview, a movie about assassinating North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, became the face of the hack. They didn’t like his proposed Christmas movie, but did order a script for a sequel to Pineapple Express and talked about rights for a buddy comedy with Jamie Foxx.
#SonyHack Says ‘No’ to SethRogan Xmas Film Because its not funny. #StephenBasilJones #AmyPascal #NigelClark pic.twitter.com/pxYGohnGw7
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 15, 2014
Pineapple Express 2! #amypascal #ScottRudin #SonyHack #sonyemails #sethrogen #jamesfranco #JuddApatow pic.twitter.com/YpipvM58gj
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 16, 2014
New Seth Rogen/Jamie Foxx cop comedy BLACK AND WHITE set in 1948.#SethRogan #JamieFoxx #nickstoller #rodneyrothman #c pic.twitter.com/eEWuuRdA6I
— val broeksmit (@BikiniRobotArmy) December 14, 2014
Of course, all of these proposed movies are subject to change depending on how Sony reacts to, and recovers from, the hack. If nothing else, the Interview is reportedly back on for a Dec. 25 limited release.
Illustration by Jason Reed