Caught in racist dogging of Obama, Sony's Amy Pascal endures obligatory meeting with Al Sharpton

Then again, who sits there when e-mailing a colleague, thinking, "I'd better not make this racist joke about Obama and Django because the North Koreans might hack my e-mails and make them public, and then I'll have to meet with Al Sharpton"? I'm thinking no one, but for some reason the world seems a lot different in this regard than it did a few days ago. At least for Amy Pascal:

Sharpton met with Pascal for 90 minutes Thursday at a Manhattan hotel where they agreed to set up a “working group” to deal with racial bias and the lack of diversity in the film industry. The embattled studio executive met with Sharpton a week after she apologized for a leaked email exchange in which she made racially insensitive remarks about President Obama. In a sidewalk news conference outside the Greenwich Hotel after their meeting, Sharpton said he told Pascal that the tone of the remarks in her hacked emails were the byproduct of “an exclusionary, almost all-white hierarchy."

Pascal’s leaked exchanges with producer Scott Rudin included remarks that suggested Obama’s taste in movies would be inclined to films with black subject matters and casts. Both have apologized for the remarks. Sharpton said Sony had agreed to assemble a working group that will collaborate with Sharpton’s National Action Network, the National Urban League, the NAACP and the Black Women’s Roundtable on ways to address racial bias in Hollywood. Urban League President Marc Morial was present at the discussion.

Ah. The price for her sins is high indeed. Not only did Pascal have to grovel personally before Sharpton, but now she has to let him remain in the picture as a "collaborator" in this whole business about addressing racial bias in Hollywood. Meanwhile, a nation that couldn't have cared less about The Interview a week ago is now waited with bated breath for the opportunity to see it - and that appears at least for the time being to be an opportunity not coming any time soon. Let's count some of the big winners from this week:

• The Castro brothers
• Bowl Cut Jr.
• Al Sharpton

Fantastic. Say, you think Sharpton's National Action Network will be able to milk enough consulting fees out of Sony that Rev. Al will be able to pay off the rest of his back taxes? We're not talking small change with $4.5 million at stake, but extortion has been known to be very rewarding.