In 2014, according to Vox, Sony Pictures planned to release its big-budget comedy “The Interview,” about a journalist and his producer who venture to North Korea to interview and take out the country’s hardline leader, Kim Jong Un. Seeking a canceled release of the movie, a hacking collective called the Guardians of Peace broke into Sony’s servers and then stole and leaked countless emails, many of which contained embarrassing conversations about A-list actors like Ryan Gosling and Leonardo DiCaprio.
It would seem that not everybody likes Will Smith, or at least his two children, Jaden and Willow. In 2014, the home-schooled celebrity offspring were profiled by T Magazine, and they came across as, well, idiosyncratic. “Time for me, I can make it go slow or fast, however I please, and that’s how I know it doesn’t exist,” said Willow. Jaden, meanwhile, professed to “have a goal to be just the most craziest person of all time.” According to The Daily Beast, Tom Rothman, an executive at Sony subsidiary TriStar productions, forwarded a link to the interview to Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal. “1. Read this. 2. they r home schooled: don’t let this family date your movies!!!”
Will Smith brushed the whole affair aside. “Everybody disses my kids,” he told Variety. “And somebody’s email is private, you know? So I would never hold anybody responsible for something they said in a private email.”