Sean Penn blasts Oscars for 'cowardice,' limiting expression in film festival comments
Sean Penn took aim at the Oscars in comments at the Marrakech Film Festival Tuesday, calling the ceremonies out for "cowardice" and accusing them of limiting cultural expression, Variety and the Associated Press report.
"The producers of the Academy have exercised really extraordinary cowardice when it comes to being part of the world of expression and, in fact, have largely been part of limiting the imagination and limiting different cultural expressions," Penn said, according to the outlets.
He is in Morocco this week to be honored with a career achievement award. The festival will air several of his films throughout the week in Marrakech, the country's cultural capital.
Penn extended his criticism to Hollywood as a whole, expressing disbelief that "The Apprentice" − a movie about the rise of Donald Trump, starring Sebastian Stan − had trouble finding a U.S. distributor, according to the Associated Press. Stan also revealed recently that he was unable to appear on Variety's popular "Actors on Actors" interview show when no other actor was comfortable discussing the film with him.
"It's kind of jaw-dropping how afraid this 'business of mavericks' is when they get a great film like that with great, great acting," Penn said, the outlets report. "They, too, can be as afraid as a piddly little Republican congressman."
Penn's criticism of the Academy Awards does not stand alone: The Oscars have for years been under fire for a lack of diversity both among the voting members and in the films they choose to honor. In 2015 and 2016, all 20 actors nominated in the lead and supporting acting categories were white inspiring the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite and igniting a larger debate over years of snubs for qualified actors of color.
In 2020, after a national outcry over equity and racial violence, the Academy announced it would implement a set of diversity standards come 2024.
"You can fulfill a lot of these (standards) without necessarily moving the dial on inclusion," Melissa Silverstein, founder of the website Women and Hollywood, previously told Paste BN.
Penn himself is known for blurring the lines between actor and activist. His latest project is "Superpower," a documentary that follows Penn's seven trips to Ukraine both before and after Russia's invasion.
A two-time Oscar winner himself, Penn shared in 2023 that he had gifted one of his golden statues to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The gesture came after he had threatened to "smelt" one of his awards if the Academy did not invite Zelenskyy to speak in 2022.
He did not ultimately melt down the statue, instead giving it to Zelenskyy as a symbolic gesture. "I told him to keep it and bring it to Malibu after all this is over and his country is safe," Penn said in an interview with Variety at the time.
Sean Penn reacts to Joe Biden pardoning Hunter Biden
Penn also weighed in on President Joe Biden's recent decision to pardon his son Hunter, who is a close personal friend of his. "Any father that didn't do that would have been remiss," Penn told Variety in an interview published Wednesday.
Penn told the outlet the charges against Hunter for tax evasion and gun-related felonies were "one of the horrible hit jobs of all time." Biden granted a sweeping pardon to his son on Sunday, saying that though he has "wrestled" with the decision, "raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice."
Biden repeatedly vowed not to pardon Hunter during his campaign for president, and while he caveated he did believe in the justice system, he accused political enemies of trying to break Hunter, who is five years sober.
This story has been updated with new information.
Contributing: David Oliver