Sean Penn, Oscar Winner, swaps the ceremony for a visit to Ukraine

https://english.elpais.com/culture/2026-03-16/sean-penn-swaps-the-oscars-for-a-visit-to-ukraine.html

Posted by IonHawk

16 Comments

  1. > Penn’s history of solidarity with Ukraine goes back a long way. In 2022, he described the country’s defense against the Russian invasion as “the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams,” adding, “If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.” That same year, the actor lent Zelenskiy one of his Oscars—the one he won this afternoon is his third—promising to leave it in Kyiv until Ukraine’s victory in the war. A year later, he told Variety that he had considered melting down his two statuettes to use as ammunition for Ukraine and also filmed a documentary about the Russian invasion.

    Fair enough. He’s giving attention to Ukraine, and they need that. It’s a small amount of attention but it’s something.

    They still need their allies in order to make it through this war and keep their country free, and that means they need ordinary citizens around the world to vote for parties that will send aid.

    I don’t love it, but I recognise that it’s important for Ukraine to keep this support alive.

  2. jager_mcjagerface on

    Absolute gigachad, he played the racist so believably in OBAA that i thought he is an actual MAGA, but it seems like he is just a better actor than i thought he was

  3. bikerbiker01000101 on

    If he had been in a dress shirt with jeans, I would have sworn it was RFK Jr. I guess he is the mirror universe version?

  4. bikerbiker01000101 on

    If he had been in a dress shirt with jeans, I would have sworn it was RFK Jr. I guess he is the mirror universe version?

  5. bikerbiker01000101 on

    If he had been in a dress shirt with jeans, I would have sworn it was RFK Jr. I guess he is the mirror universe version?

  6. I get it. Those oscar ceremonies are boring as fuck, and all women there lower themselves to clothes hangers.

  7. Just a random fact, Penn shot a documentary here, which featured a pilot Andrii Pilshchykov(“Juice”). When Andrii died, Penn went back to Kyiv and rented a film theater to show the documentary to his family and brothers in arms.