Has Sony hacking stunned Dennis Rodman into silence?

It's such a big hacking deal that Sony Pictures has canceled the planned Christmas Day release of "The Interview," a movie that pokes fun at North Korea and features a plot to kill Kim Jong-un, the dictator of the reclusive communist nation.

But former NBA star Dennis Rodman, whose trips to North Korea and his friendship with Kim have drawn worldwide attention, has no comment.

"No media," WND was told by a public relations firm representing Rodman in response to a request for a brief interview.

"I can understand why you'd want to talk to him, but he's not doing any media."

Rodman, known for his flamboyant attire, hairstyles and personality, commented on the movie in an interview one week ago, claiming he was the reason it was made.

But on the issue of hackers threatening the lives of Americans who might see the movie, he had nothing to say.

The earlier remarks were reported in USA Today by "For the win" columnist Chris Strauss, who talked with Rodman at the launch of the "In Their Own Words" memorabilia collection by Steiner Sports.

Rodman sniped at Sony for making the picture and the media for not criticizing it enough.

"When I came back, they were talking about making that movie," he said. "That's a shame. It's such a shame.

"They blast me, when I'm the one who went and talked to [Kim] four times. Now all of a sudden, they're going to make a joke about the guy."

Rodman commented: "Nobody's giving them [flak] at all. They make a joke about it. 'You want us to go over and kill him?' and they say yes. That's supposed to be funny. That's the kind of thing that's a Catch-22. You'll blast me, but you won't blast this. At least I made history, and that's why you made a movie about it. You made a comedy out of it."

The Washington Examiner reported Wednesday that Sony Pictures has canceled the Christmas Day release of 'The Interview" after terror threats against movie theaters showing the film.

The report said the decision came after Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Entertainment Holdings and others announced they would not carry the film.

CNN reported earlier a theater in New York canceled the city premiere because of threats.

Hackers claiming to be "Guardians of Peace" posted on a website, which allows anonymous posts, a warning that people who see the movie would suffer a "bitter fate." The threat also referenced earlier terrorism in the U.S. There's no confirmed link between the hackers and North Korea, but the intrusion serves the interest of the communist nation.

"We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places 'The Interview' be shown, including the premier, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to," the group stated. "The world will be full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001."

The "Guardians of Peace" even warned those who live close to movie theaters to keep away.

Justin Moyer, in a commentary in the Washington Post, said North Korea might not be out of line entirely in being upset over the movie.

"It's impossible to summon much sympathy for Kim Jong-un," Moyer wrote. "But now imagine this assassination farce was made not in Hollywood, but in North Korea or Moscow, and the leader assassinated in the film was a president of the United States. Or imagine the film was made by Iran, and the leader assassinated in the film was the prime minister of Israel. Where 'The Interview' draws on stereotypes about North Korea's ridiculous, yet terrifying isolationism, this hypothetical film makes jokes about African-Americans and Jews – perhaps about the incompetence of a black man in the White House, or about Israel's right to exist.

"Not so funny, is it?" he wrote.

Rodman has made four trips to North Korea and has called Kim his personal friend.

After returning from North Korea and an exhibition basketball game played to celebrate Kim's birthday, he told CNN of the dictator: "I love my friend. This is my friend."

WND columnist Les Kinsolving pointed out the U.N. has released a "deeply disturbing and horrendously important" report on human rights in North Korea.

He cited a Weekly Standard story calling the report "perhaps the definitive account of the living hell that is life in North Korea – as well as the definitive indictment of the country's ghastly, murderous regime."

The report says the Kim dynasty is guilty of "crimes of extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, rape, and persecution."

"That such absolutely sadistic creatures are in charge of a government that says it's armed with nuclear bombs is horrendous," Kinsolving wrote. "Fortunately the fact that the United States and some of her allies are also armed with nuclear bombs – and much more so than North Korea – has apparently deterred the North Koreans from nuclear warfare, so far.

"But how long this deterrence will last illustrates our enormously important need for a really effective intelligence service – as well as our armed forces' ability to retaliate immediately should North Korea use any of its H-bombs against any other nation."