Sony Defends 'Zero Dark Thirty' After Oscar Voter Speaks Out LOS ANGELES - It's official: "Zero Dark Thirty" is now a political football not just in the United States Senate, where several senators have been challenging its portrayal of torture in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, but also within the voting ranks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. On Wednesday, the actor David Clennon - an Academy member known for his political activism as well as for roles in the movie "J. Edgar" and the television show "thirtysomething" -- posted a strong statement on the truth-out.org Web site, saying that he would shun "Zero Dark Thirty" in the Oscar voting because, as he sees it, the film expresses an "easy tolerance" of torture. "At the risk of being expelled for disclosing my intentions," Mr. Clennon wrote, "I will not be voting for 'Zero Dark Thirty' - in any Academy Awards category." That rare public censure of an Academy Awards contender - "Zero Dark Thirty" was nominated for five awards, including best picture, on Thursday but did not get a best director nod - provoked an equally rare response from Amy Pascal, the co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which released the film in the United States. "'Zero Dark Thirty' does not advocate torture," Ms. Pascal wrote in a statement circulated late Friday. She expressed support for the writer of the film, Mark Boal, and its director, Kathryn Bigelow. Then, Ms. Pascal continued: "We are outraged that any responsible member of the Academy would use their voting status in AMPAS as a platform to advance their own political agenda. The film should be judged free of partisanship. To punish an artist's right of expression is abhorrent. This community, more than any other, should know how reprehensible that is. Calls to Mr. Clennon's home drew no immediate response on Friday. An Academy spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. Clennon's position, or on Ms. Pascal's response. The Academy annually advises its members, in a letter that comes with the final ballot, to refrain from discussing their votes with others. But rules against negative campaigning in the Oscar race apply only to the professional campaigners and others associated with various contenders. The members at large remain free to express their opinions about movies, even when those opinions may be seen by some, including Ms. Pascal, as stepping on free expression by a filmmaker.