Amy Pascal Admits to Being Fired by Sony
Movie

The studio head who is leaving her top position after hacking scandal discusses Sony crisis and addresses controversy surrounding Jennifer Lawrence's 'American Hustle' paycheck.

AceShowbiz - Amy Pascal broke her silence on her departure from Sony Pictures. Speaking to journalist Tina Brown at the Women in the World conference in San Francisco, she quipped, "All these amazing women sitting in this chair and all I did was get fired!"

Her exit came several months after Sony was rocked with hacking scandal following North Korea's protest against the studio's Kim Jong-Un assassination comedy "The Interview". She landed in hot water after hackers leaked her email exchanges containing fiery remarks about Angelina Jolie, racist jokes about President Barack Obama, and drama over Steve Jobs biopic.

Pascal has since apologized for her insensitive comments. "The first person I talked to was Angie after that email," she said at the Wednesday, February 11 conference. "Everybody understood [about the emails] because we all live in this weird thing together called Hollywood. If we all actually were nice it wouldn't work."

"I did learn that you should always say what you think directly to people all of the time," she also stated. "I think the most important thing you can do is to be straight up."

She recalled her first reaction when learning about the hack. "I ran this company and I had to worry about everybody who was really scared," she said. "All of their social security was out there ... people were worried about all kinds of things. But nagging in the back of my mind and I kept calling going, 'They don't have our emails right? Tell me they don't have our emails.' ... well then they did."

Another thing revealed from the emails exposed after the cyber attack and later became the subject of debate was the fact that Jennifer Lawrence earned less than her male co-stars in "American Hustle". "I've paid her a lot more money since then, I promise you," Pascal insisted. "Here's the problem: I run a business. People want to work for less money, I pay them less money."

She continued in her own defense, "I don't call them up and say, 'Can I give you some more?' Because that's not what you do when you run a business. The truth is, what women have to do is not work for less money. They have to walk away. People shouldn't be so grateful for jobs. ... People should know what they're worth."

"The hardest thing in any of these jobs is to be able to hear yourself," Pascal explained. "There's so much noise coming at you all the time ... there's so many people ... that want to be stroked and pleased and win. And sometimes you can substitute what other people's needs are for what you think ... all you have is your own gut and you have to protect that."

After stepping down from her position as Sony chief, Amy Pascal will stay with the company to start a new production venture. Her projects include overseeing the studio's partnership with Marvel over their Spider-Man franchise. "You know, I'm 56," she said of the change. "That's not exactly the time you want to start all over again but it's kind of great and I have to. It's going to be a new adventure for me."

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