Sorkin apologizes for remarks about Apple's Tim Cook, says both parties went too far

Posted:
in General Discussion edited October 2015
The screenwriter behind Universal's Steve Jobs biopic, Aaron Sorkin, apologized on Saturday for his response to remarks by Apple CEO Tim Cook, who last week said that filmmakers were being "opportunistic" making movies about the Apple co-founder.




"You know what, I think that Tim Cook and I probably both went a little too far," Sorkin commented to E! News. "And I apologize to Tim Cook. I hope when he sees the movie, he enjoys it as much as I enjoy his products."

In response to Cook's accusation on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Sorkin told the Hollywood Reporter on Friday that he and others took paycuts to make Steve Jobs, and suggested that Cook should actually see the film before judging it. His most controversial remark, though, accused Cook of hypocrisy given that suppliers like Foxconn have been known to use underpaid and/or underage labor.

"If you've got a factory full of children in China assembling phones for 17 cents an hour, you've got a lot of nerve calling someone else opportunistic," Sorkin said.

Steve Jobs is scheduled for a limited debut on Oct. 9 and a wider release to follow. The movie was directed by Danny Boyle, and stars Michael Fassbender as Jobs.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 146
    Don't know why he apologized, he was spot on.
  • Reply 2 of 146
    Think before you speak, Mr. Sorkin. You may have shot your own foot with that thoughtless, stupid, untrue remark about one of the greatest companies of modern times, and arguably, one of the finest CEOs out there. Apple fans may not show up to see your movie.

    There was no equivalency between what you said and Tim Cooks' remarks. Back off like a gentleman, not like a weasel.
  • Reply 3 of 146
    Don't know why he apologized, he was spot on.

    'Spot on' about what? Did you forget the '/sarcasm' tag or are you mindlessly trolling?
  • Reply 4 of 146
    What a dork.
  • Reply 5 of 146
    What I find interesting is that Apple had seemed ok with his film. I think Cook was speaking about the others that came out of the woodwork and beat this on to market.
  • Reply 6 of 146
    a clarifying apology is no apology. like being in the news much Sorkin?
  • Reply 7 of 146
    john.bjohn.b Posts: 2,742member
    Dude realized he was alienating the one demographic likely to actually pay to see his movie.
  • Reply 8 of 146
    Steve was a great man who little men think they can understand and encapsulate in less then 2 hours.
  • Reply 9 of 146

    Trash talk isn't productive, even if Sorkin did have a couple of points. While it's easy to delve into word parsing and point out that Cook didn't specifically mention the upcoming Steve Jobs movie, he did broadly disparage media coverage about Jobs... even without having viewed or read some of the material in question.

     

    It just seems like Tim Cook is a little too protective of Jobs' legacy. Case in point is that Apple executives went out of their way to poo-poo on Walter Isaacson's authorized biography... Jobs himself was completely on board with putting his history on display, warts and all. And considering that he continues to be such a fascinating public figure, I don't think it's a terrible disservice to publish new details about his life, even if some of the material is less than flattering (I take issue with inaccuracies, of course). At this point, regardless of whatever may or may not be said of the man he'll always be revered as an icon of American ingenuity and a very important figure in the computer industry, and nothing can change that. 

     

    Anyway... the use of the word  "opportunistic" comes off as unnecessarily cynical to me. Sorkin apologized, and obviously doesn't want to stir up controversy; but I think Cook would do just as well to ease off of his defensiveness of Jobs.

  • Reply 10 of 146
    "I'm sorry, it's your fault too."

    Good old corporate apology.

    Tim cook was right about the opportunism. If Jobs hadn't died, all the books and movies wouldn't have appeared. This is always how it works. Just be honest about it.
  • Reply 11 of 146
    Talk about an "unpology". Cook is exactly right, enough already! How many frickin books and movies about Jobs do we need? Sorkin really shows himself as a massive douche here.
  • Reply 12 of 146
    mac_dogmac_dog Posts: 1,069member
    so...not really an apology, then.
  • Reply 13 of 146
    [RIGHT][/RIGHT]

    Sorkin apology: "I'm sorry Tim Cook screwed up."
  • Reply 14 of 146
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Cook was speaking as a friend of Jobs. As a friend he considers it's exploitive for others to see the life of the friend as entertainment.

    Sorkin was spreading lies.
  • Reply 15 of 146
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post



    Steve was a great man who little men think they can understand and encapsulate in less then 2 hours.



    Well said!

  • Reply 16 of 146
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Zapf Brannigan View Post

     

    It just seems like Tim Cook is a little too protective of Jobs' legacy. Case in point is that Apple executives went out of their way to poo-poo on Walter Isaacson's authorized biography... Jobs himself was completely on board with putting his history on display, warts and all. 


    They didn't go out of their way at all. When asked, they answered truthfully that is was a bad book. And it was. Isaacson got many facts wrong, and allowed people like Bill Gates to say whatever he wanted while simultaneously not asking Jobs any tough questions. It was terrible on every front and will rightly be remembered as such. I say that as someone who pre-ordered it and read it the first day it was out.

  • Reply 17 of 146
    I know where he went too far but where did Tim Cook go too far?
  • Reply 18 of 146
    Think before you speak, Mr. Sorkin. You may have shot your own foot with that thoughtless, stupid, untrue remark about one of the greatest companies of modern times, and arguably, one of the finest CEOs out there. Apple fans may not show up to see your movie.

    There was no equivalency between what you said and Tim Cooks' remarks. Back off like a gentleman, not like a weasel.

    Im an apple fan and just because he said something that had some assumptions facts does not mean that im going to boycott a artful movie about steve jobs. Critics are loving it and apparently fasbender did fantastic for the role.

    That being said, apple has been publicly called out for low wage child labor and only after being called out and receiving bad press did apple change its policies, create policies and enforce policies. There are still questionable labor practices, and it is still VERY opportunistic to employe chinese to build apple products instead of manufacturing in america, because the wages per hour are so low there. And most of them are still in poverty/ live much lesser lives than low wage workers in the usa. We have labor and wage laws to protect humans rights to life happiness and prosperity. Apple wants to avoid those human rights and be opportunistic by cutting labor costs knowing it affects people in the same economic ways.

    Apple also continues to do very little about memory capacity, ram, processor speeds until this very fall. Yet apple charges 700-1000% of the devices actual costs. That is why apple is sitting on over 150 billion in cash. Because its leaders are opportunistic.

    Apple charges 30% of music, videos, movies, books, and app downloads. Apple rakes in billions for work it did not do. The cost of running and maintaining the app store would be roughly around 1.5-2.5% of app revenues. But apple takes from other peoples work anyways because they simply can. Because apple is opportunistic.

    Apple raised its pricing for insurance on its devices. Even though prices per part were already broken down plus average labor costs to replace a iphone part, and applecare plus the fix fee are generally 600% more than it actually costs apple for the part and labor. Therefore apple is raising insurance on applecare out of opportunism.

    Doing good business is great. Profiting is great. But taking from people just because you can, because you developed an ecosystem that surrounds peoples lives is just greedy opportunism.
  • Reply 19 of 146
    Been drinking the Kool-Aid?
  • Reply 20 of 146
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member
    Just boycott this fucking movie. When a guy brings up the Foxconn's issue, I already considered him as a fucking idiot. Foxconn doesn't belong to Apple, you dumbass.
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