Evil

Even more than previous events involving The Interview, this suggests that there's something more going on here.
 

Consider for a second that each Saturday Night Live episode is created starting on Monday morning, eventually finishing up Saturday afternoon and early evening. Sketches are written up on Tuesday, then a read-through on Wednesday determines those that can be produced - which doesn't guarantee getting on the final live show. Sony pulled the movie from distribution on Wednesday. Mike Myers is no longer a regular cast member and really doesn't show up very often. So this was pitched, written, proposed to Mr. Myers, accepted by him, and set up as the cold open - a key part of the show, one that will impact the entire show's ratings for that night - between Thursday and Saturday.

It's possible that it had more of a head start - many of the jokes could have been written at any time in the last few weeks. It might have been in the planning stages earlier than Wednesday, with any specific jokes about the movie being added at the last minute. However, it does seem unpolished overall, as if it was a last minute addition to the show - the audience appreciation appears as much for the idea of the sketch as for its execution. Perhaps Lorne Michaels wanted to make a statement, as George Clooney did, and was willing to take some risks to do so.

That comment about killing a movie by moving it to January brought up a separate consideration, quite aside from North Korea's actual intentions or Michaels' desires: Imagine for a moment that, rather than looting data and leaving, the hackers had managed to subvert key points in the Sony information infrastructure. Perhaps an email goes out from the head of the studio saying that the date of the film will be changed because, oh, Seth Rogen preferred a staggered release that allowed interest to build up over time, or the Christmas slot was needed for a film with real Oscar potential. And suppose emailed responses came back from department heads that said, sure, we're all for it. It might be difficult for anyone to walk back what they said or agreed to, if there was [email] evidence that they had supported the change.

A skilled enough group might be able to take over communication networks, which could become equivalent to taking over the organization. If the Data Wars become reality, that could be the way they become worthy of the name.