Kevin Hart has responded to leaked Sony emails in which one executive purportedly called the comedian a “whore.”
Documents obtained by Defamer revealed a March thread between Sony executives Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton and Screen Gems President Clint Culpepper. The three complain about an upcoming Hart movie, specifically that Hart’s team requested more money to utilize his 14.4 million Twitter followers and other social platforms to promote the film.
While Hart’s team said he would happily do the normal publicity rounds like junkets and photo calls, the emails hinted that he wanted additional compensation to pitch the movie on social media.
“I’m not saying he’s a whore, but he’s a whore,” Culpepper wrote.
Hart posted the following statement to Instagram on Thursday in response:
“Knowing your self worth is extremely important people … I worked very hard to get where I am today. I look at myself as a brand and because of that I will never allow myself to be taking advantage [sic] of. I own my brand … I make smart decisions for my brand … I protect my brand … which is why I’m able to brush ignorance off of my shoulder and continue to move forward. I refuse to be broken people…with that being said its now time for me to get back to building this empire that I’ve always dreamed of.”
That’s not the only reference to Hart in the Sony leak. Another exchange between studio head Pascal and producer Scott Rudin, had racial overtones when it theorized over President Obama’s favorite movies, bouncing around a number of prominent black titles like “Django Unchained,” “The Butler” and “12 Years A Slave.”
“”I bet he likes Kevin Hart,” Rudin wrote. Both executives later apologized for their comments.
Reps for Sony and Screen Gems have not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
