Sean Penn is supporting Amy Schumer’s idea of having Ukraine President Zelenskyy featured during Sunday’s Oscars.
During a Saturday interview on CNN, the actor went as far as saying that the awards show should be boycotted if Zelenskyy doesn’t appear.
Penn, who spoke about the humanitarian work he and his crew have been doing in Europe to help offer relief and aid to fleeing Ukrainians, was asked by anchor Jim Acosta what he’d like to see from the Academy Awards during the upcoming televised show.
ICYMI: Actor Sean Penn says the Oscars should be boycotted if the ceremony’s planners have decided against having Zelensky on the program. pic.twitter.com/4LI2YIiKcD
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 26, 2022
He firmly stated that he agrees with having Zelenskyy and/or other Ukrainian leaders appear during the telecast, noting the importance of Hollywood showing their support during this troubling time.
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Penn noted that while politics should normally be left out of shows as such, he believes the war upstages grandstanding.
From Warsaw, actor Sean Penn told me that if Oscars event planners decided against having Zelensky on the program that the ceremony should be boycotted. Penn added: "If it turns out to be what is happening…when I return, I will smelt mine in public," referring to his Oscar.
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 26, 2022
According to the two-time Oscar-winning actor, the show’s producers have apparently chosen to dismiss Zelenskyy from appearing, which Penn says, if true, would be the “most obscene moment in all of Hollywood history.”
If that’s the case, Penn encourages all Oscar nominees, and “everyone involved” to “protest and boycott [the] Academy Awards.” He also said that, when he returns home from Europe, he will destroy his two Oscar awards by smelting them in public.
