“Community” star Joel McHale had the contents of one of his emails leaked during the Sony hacking scandal, but for the actor, it resulted in an offer for free stuff.
Late last year, an email Joel sent, that was forwarded to Sony Pictures Television President Steve Mosko, made headlines during the hacking scandal. The contents, which were spotted in the exec’s email chain, revealed that the actor had asked for a discount on a television a few days after his show was canceled by NBC. (Sony Pictures Television is the studio behind the show).
Following the “Community” panel at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour in Pasadena on Tuesday, AccessHollywood.com asked the actor how he felt about having his email leaked.
WATCH: Joel McHale Talks ‘Community’ Heading To Yahoo Screen
“I was like, ‘Wow, I guess the North Koreans are at the bottom of the barrel on the controversy ’cause the guy asking for the employee discount on his television is, I guess, was news,'” Joel told Access.
“And, hey, it worked out great because… every time I would see an article, I would just take another model of one of their TVs and reTweet it and say, ‘Something to think about for the holidays.’ And so, it was — as far as scandals go in my life — it was about as painless as it could get,” he added, laughing.
WATCH: Joel McHale Talks ‘Community’ Heading To Yahoo Screen
Joel got his TV in the end, apparently unrelated to the email leak, but he said another company reached out with an offer, after his (humorous) email made news.
“I got the television for free anyway, but then, I will say, I got contacted by Sharp and they said, ‘Hey, we think our televisions are better, can we send you one?’ So, in a way, the North Koreans got me another free TV. I have not [taken] them up on it yet,” he told Access.
On Tuesday, it was announced that “Community” begins its life on Yahoo Screen on March 17. Joel is happy to have his show continue, but said when it was originally canceled by NBC, he and the cast thought it was the end.
“I mourned the loss of the show,” he told reporters. “We had a dinner and it was sad ’cause we wanted the show to continue and then, God bless Yahoo and Dan [Harmon, showrunner] and Sony for making it happen, but we had moved on. I had already started my, ‘How was I going to reinvent ‘Perfect Strangers,'” he joked. “So we had all moved on and then it came back and as Gillian [Jacobs] had said, we love going to work and I would continue doing this show until I was blue in the face.”
— Jolie Lash
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