Sean Penn Very Unhappy About The Oscars Ceremony This Year

Sean Penn is an iconic actor and director, there's no doubt about it. "Mystic River", "Into The Wild", and "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", there are too many iconic films that surround this personality to cite all of them. And recently, he decided to create a documentary about the Russian invasion in Ukraine. In this film, he wants to show to the world the truth behind the Russian invasion and of course, he publicly supports Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

However, Sean Penn wanted President Zelensky to be invited to the Oscars Ceremony and even promised to make one of his Oscars melt if the president wasn't invited. Well, unfortunately for him, the President wasn't at the Oscars this year, but another event happened and Sean Penn deeply regrets that this event was highlighted.

If you have seen the Oscars Ceremony this year, or even if you just turn on your TV or watch the news on your phone sometimes, you probably know the scandal that surrounds Will Smith and his friend Chris Rock at the Ceremony. As a reminder, after a silly joke from his friend Chris Rock, Will Smith stood up to go on the scene and directly slapped Chris Rock in the face. While everybody thought at first that it was a joke or something scripted by the ceremony, Will Smith started to yell vigorously at his friend, and the spectators understood it wasn't a joke and a big deal.

This incident shocked the whole world, and rumors that Will Smith was banned from the ceremony started to spread, while Will Smith apologized a few days later, knowing what he has done wasn't appropriate. In the end, the ceremony was more focused on that, than the winner itself, which is a shame for Sean Penn. What's, even more, a shame for him, is the fact that Volodymyr Zelensky wasn't invited to the Oscars Ceremony and more than that, that this incident was highlighted while the Ukrainian President wasn't even there.

To contest this decision, Sean Penn decided to gift President Zelensky one of his Oscars statues. He also did that in replacement of his other promise that he didn't keep. Sean Penn said that if the President wasn't invited, he would melt one of his Oscars statues. But in the end, he gave it to Zelensky and also let the President judge what to do with it: “The Oscar is there in his office, and ready to be melted any time he wants to melt it”. But that's not all, the actor said other interesting things during the presentation of his documentary in Berlin.

When he was asked why he offered an oscar statue to the Ukrainian President, he declared it was: “a symbolic gesture between two friends… inspired by my continuing shame towards the leadership of the Motion Picture Academy in choosing to present Will Smith smacking Chris Rock rather than the greatest symbol of cinema and humanity living today, their loss.” So the director and actor deeply regrets what happened and doesn't seem to like the Academy Awards anymore. And there's a reason for that, the actor was very implied in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

Sean Penn not only has seen the conflict like us on TV, but he went to Ukraine before the conflict and also when it started in February 2022. Named 'Superpower', the documentary that was released for the first time on February 17th is a tribute to the Ukrainian population and their courageous behavior during the conflict. The film also denounces the fact that, for Sean Penn, occidental countries do not send enough weapons to Ukraine to defend themselves from the Russian Invasion, and that he wishes this documentary will make them react.

Screened at the Berlin Film Festival, Sean Penn talked a lot before and after the event, to say again how much he supports Ukraine in this conflict, after what he has seen last year with his own eyes about the Russian Invasion. He expressed himself on the subject of impartiality: “This is not an unbiased film because this is not an unambiguous war.” He then added: “The word propaganda can be used as a disparagement. As part of showing the truth of Ukraine’s absolute unity in pursuing all those things without which life is not worth living, then I’m very happy to be considered a propagandist. We made an unapologetically biased film, because that was the true story we found.”

But even if Sean Penn wasn't happy at all with the Oscars Ceremony, there's one thing for sure, it will be very interesting to watch this documentary to learn more about Ukraine's situation.