Attorney Alan Dershowitz equated Sony caving to North Korean threats to one of the most historic attacks on America Wednesday.
Also read: Sony Scraps ‘The Interview’ Release: ‘We Have Decided Not to Move Forward’
“This is Pearl Harbor on the First Amendment,” Dershowitz said to Don Lemon, claiming North Korea has declared war on America’s most basic freedom.
“Sony made a terrible mistake, not in pulling it in theaters, but in not immediately announcing they were going to make it free on the Internet so that millions of people could watch it, or at least make it available on demand,” he added.
Also read: Hollywood Outraged at Sony’s Decision to Dump ‘The Interview’
CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin didn’t go as far as Dershowitz, but previewed what North Korea might try next:
“What North Korea has learned is that they could stop a movie, which means they think they could stop a newspaper if there’s a story they don’t like, or that they can stop a cable news network if they don’t like what we’re broadcasting…that is a very chilling message.”
Later in the show, Dershowitz debated TheWrap’s Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman:
“They absolutely had to cancel the movie,” Waxman said. “Can you imagine if there was a hair damaged on the head of a single moviegoer because of anything that might relate to North Korea threatening a 9/11-style attack; the legal liabilities here just logically speaking are huge, and of course nobody wants that responsibility.”
As TheWrap exclusively reported Wednesday, CNN’s parent company Turner Broadcasting issued an email to all employees compelling them to change their desktop and mobile passwords by Thursday in response to the Sony hacks.
All of the broadcast and cable news morning shows have dedicated lengthy amounts of programming Thursday morning to the aftermath of Sony canceling “The Interview.”
Watch the video above.