Rev. Al Sharpton Meets With Sony to Discuss Diversity in Hollywood After Company's Racially Insensitive Emails Leaked

On Thursday, Rev. Al Sharpton met with Sony Entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal to discuss Pascal's racially charged email correspondence with Hollywood producer, Scott Rudin, the New York Daily News reports.

The 90-minute meeting took place in Manhattan, and it comes after several emails between Rudin and Pascal were leaked by hackers, who refer to themselves as "The Guardians of Peace." North Korea has been tied to the cyber crime, but the country has continued to deny the allegations.

One particular email between Rudin and Pascal talking about President Barack Obama's favorite movie sparked immediate backlash from Shonda Rhimes and Sharpton, who described the emails as "offensive, troubling, and insulting," The New York Times reported at the time.

In the email about the president, Rudin tells Pascal that he is attending a sit-down breakfast with Obama and pokes fun at the idea that the president's favorite movies would be "12 Years a Slave," "Django Unchained" and Lee Daniels' "The Butler."

Though both Pascal and Rudin have since apologized for what they described as "racially insensitive" emails that "are not an accurate reflection" of who they are, Sharpton said in a press conference, according to ABC, that he still agreed to speak with Pascal to further discuss methods to improve "relations" between African-Americans and Hollywood executives.

"I said to her at that time that the climate and environment of Hollywood only confirms the type of language that was used in those emails," Sharpton said. "Being that Hollywood is an environment that still resembles 1950s America, it is a context that confirms the language."

Sharpton also revealed that in addition to himself, members of the NAACP, the National Urban League and the Black Women's Roundtable were also in attendance at the meeting with Pascal.

The members from each organization met with Pascal to work on possible solutions "to improve racial diversity in the entertainment industry," ABC News reports.

Marc Morial, the president of the National Urban League, also spoke during the press conference about the meeting with Pascal, adding that the purpose of the sit-down was to ensure that Sony "is on the right side of changing Hollywood."