Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. Jonathan Alcorn/Bloomberg via Getty Images Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton appeared on CNN Friday afternoon to address the company's decision to pull "The Interview" from theaters.

Lynton told CNN's Fareed Zakaria that Sony did not cave to the hacker group Guardians of Peace by pulling the movie.

A clip of the interview ran Friday afternoon on CNN. The full interview will air Friday night on "Anderson Cooper 360."

He said the decision to pull "The Interview" came only after the major theater chains decided not to show the film. It wasn't because Sony didn't want to distribute the movie.

"Movie theaters came to us … one by one and announced they would not carry the movie,” Lynton said.

"We have not caved," he said.

Lynton told Zakaria that Sony has "every desire" to show the movie to the public and that most people are wrong in their criticism regarding the way Sony handled the situation.

"The president, the press, and the public are mistaken as to what actually happened," he said.

But Sony hasn't announced plans to release "The Interview" through alternative methods, either online or through video on demand services.

Guardians of Peace sent an email to Lynton and other Sony executives Friday morning that said the company is safe from further hacks as long as it doesn't release the movie.

Earlier on Friday afternoon, President Obama said Sony had made a "mistake" by canceling "The Interview" premiere.

"I'm sympathetic to the concerns they faced," Obama said. "Having said all that, I think they made a mistake."

Obama continued:

"I wish [Sony] had spoken to me first. I would have told them do not get into a pattern where you're intimidated by these kinds of criminal attacks."

The FBI said Friday that North Korea was responsible for the Sony hacks.

More on the Sony hacks:



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