Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Seth Rogen VS. North Korea

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

The controversy surrounding Seth Rogen and North Korea centers on the 2014 film The Interview, a satirical comedy co-directed by Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The movie stars Rogen and James Franco as journalists recruited by the CIA to unalive North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Upon the release of its trailer, North Korea condemned the film as an "act of war".

Remember when this Hollywood actor almost started an international conflict? Now, his name is Seth Rogan, and you know who Seth Rogan is. He's been acting and producing for a long time. Well, one day, in the late 2000s, he and his buddy are chilling, goofing around, probably smoking some of that zaza, and they're talking about how TV journalists always interviewed dictators. And one of them makes a joke about how it would be funny if during the middle of an interview, a journalist just,

Blam, assassinated the dictator right there. Now, Seth's friend isn't just a regular friend. He's actually his writing-producing partner, Evan Goldberg. So Seth and Evan are talking about this, and they're like, oh shit, let's make a comedy movie about that. And so, boom, they and another writer write a script about this concept, and they submit it to executives at Sony, and Sony execs give them a green light, along with one major note.

They say, yeah, this idea is funny and all, but your story is about a fictional dictator. Why not make it about a real dictator? And so, Seth and Evan changed the script, and it eventually becomes a story about North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. And so, in 2013, they make this Kim Jong-un comedy movie. It's called The Interview. And Seth is in it, James Franco's in it, Randall Park plays Kim Jong-Un, and of course, the premise is a bumbling talking talk show host is assigned by the CIA to get an interview with Kim Jong-un, and during the interview, he has to assassinate him. And of course, the movie makes Kim Jong look really goofy, while also

highlighting some of the ridiculous myths that he claims about himself. Like he claims that he always plays a perfect round of golf, he claims that he invented the hamburger, he claims that he can talk to dolphins, he claims that he doesn't have an anus because he doesn't need one. He claims that he doesn't need one because he doesn't even have to go to the bathroom at all because his body is a perfect machine that doesn't create waste. It's all absurd. And so anyway, some of these myths they reference in the movie, which just ends up making Kim Jong look like a huge dork. Do you do karaoke? Yes, I do, Dave. And of course, in the end of the movie, he ends up getting blown up and dying. Spoiler alert. Anyway, so they shoot this comedy movie and Seth and Evan direct

it and they're all prepared to release it. And in 2014, they drop the trailer for the world to see, and they start getting a little buzz around their movie. However, not everyone is thrilled with the idea of the interview. Apparently, the North Korean government sees this trailer, which means Kim Jong-un himself would have seen this trailer. Now, here's the thing about dictators. They always present themselves as like strong men who are so powerful and confident. However, when you start making jokes about them, they tend to flip out and turn into like a weak little crybaby. I mean, these clowns will execute people over like a punchline. So I imagine Kim Jong-un saw this trailer and he got his feelings all hurt and like he's upset. I mean, how could someone make a comedy

movie making fun of him? The Supreme Leader, the man with a perfect body and no anus. Okay, but then two weeks after the trailer drops, a representative of North Korea sends a letter to the UN calling out this American comedy movie that insulted their supreme leader. And that rep says that to allow such a film to be made is, and I'm not making this up, an act of war. And that they want the U.S. to ban the production and distribution of the movie. Otherwise, the U.S. is basically sponsoring terrorism. Not only that, a few days after that, North Korean State TV releases a statement from their government, threatening that

there will be stern and merciless retaliation against the United States if that movie is released. And so, yeah, Kim Jong-un and North Korea are pissed, and the movie isn't even out yet. North Korea says the United States is on the verge of

committing an act of war. And so then Seth and Evan are summoned to meet up with the heads of Sony in their offices. And they acknowledge that North Korea is pissed. And they're like, look, in the movie, you exploded Kim Jong-un's head in a really graphic way. And so over the next couple of months, the studio asks them to make changes to that death scene to tone it down a little and maybe make it a bit less graphic, thinking, yeah, you know,

maybe these changes will ease the tensions with North Korea. But, unfortunately, they don't ease shit. They don't ease tensions at all. And so then Sony execs get nervous and they decide to delay the release of the movie for about two months thinking, yeah, you know, maybe things will cool down. Until. Oh, but things don't cool down. Not long after that announcement, one day, Sony Entertainment, their employees go to work, just like any

other normal day, and they go to log in to their work computers. And instead of their normal desktop, boom, there's a creepy red skeleton appearing on the screen, along with the words, hacked by GOP. Sony has been hacked. A group of anonymous hackers who call themselves the Guardians of Peace have hacked into the computer networks of Sony. And these guys got access to everything. Internal emails, internal data,

employee records, employee phone numbers, addresses, and social security numbers. They get access to several Sony movies that hadn't even been released yet. And then, kaboom, these hackers release all of it to the internet for anyone to see. They got all their employees' private information, all their internal communications, some unreleased movies that are just now out there for free for anyone to watch, which causes Sony to lose millions in revenue.

Allegedly, they lost around $200 million over this hack. And funny enough, these hackers specifically want Sony to stop the release of 7,000. movie, The Interview, and they want any mention of it removed from the internet somehow, as if Sony controls the entire internet. Now, the North Korean government claims that they have nothing to do with Guardians of Peace or these Sony hacks. However, the broad consensus is that, yeah, they're lying, they're behind the whole thing. Anyway, about two weeks later, the Guardians of Peace hack Sony again. This time, they claim that they'll stop if Sony agrees not to release the movie, making Kim Jong-un look bad.

Oh, but it gets worse because a week after that, they threaten a terrorist attack on the movie theater in New York where the movie is premiering. Plus, they say that they'll attack any theater that shows the movie. So yeah, now shit's getting serious. And so, bam, Seth and James Franco

cancel all their publicity appearances, and Sony hires personal security to, like, follow them around because now they're under a serious threat. While Sony, they pull all television advertising for the movie. Shortly after that, several major theater chains announced that they will no longer screen the film as they are now worried about a terror threat. And so Sony has no other choice. They have to cancel the wide theatrical release of the movie altogether.

And so the fate of this comedy movie that Seth and Evan worked so hard on is left hanging in the balance. And if that isn't crazy enough, the fucking president of the United States gives a press conference. And he has to make a statement on it. Sony's a corporation, you know, suffered significant damage. There were threats against its employees. And so basically he says that he understands why Sony canceled the theatrical release because, you know, their employees were threatened. But he also says that he thinks Sony made a mistake. We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace.

can start imposing censorship here in the United States. Imagine what they start doing when they see a documentary that they don't like or news reports that they don't like. So then, after the president's speech, execs at Sony decide to change their mind and they reverse course again and that they are going to figure out a way to release the movie in theaters. And at the last minute, they get the movie a limited time release in about 300 independent theaters in the U.S.

and they get it wide theatrical release in the UK. And so, Seth and Evans movie is saved. And the hackers, they go away, they don't do anything else. No one was hurt. No one died. And Kim Jong-un went back to his normal life of being a dictator with apparently no anus.