In an interview on the podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, dictator-loving actor Sean Penn, who has compared supporters of former President Donald Trump to al-Qaeda and called for pro-Trump evangelical leaders to be “impeached,” slammed cancel culture as “ludicrous” even though he
“When we’re destroying careers like that, what are we really achieving? What are we doing?” Penn asked. “Or you look at politicians. I give a big nod to anybody that’s willing to enter the public arena who is doing so because they give a damn.”
During the podcast, Penn called cancel culture “ludicrous” and defended journalist Alexi McCammond, who lost her job as editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue in March after her anti-Asian tweets resurfaced.
But earlier this year, the leftist who embraces totalitarian leaders around the world smeared Trump supporters as equivalent to Islamic terrorists, and then-President Trump to Osama bin Laden.
Another time, he tweeted that the Pope should “impeach” evangelical leaders who fail to denounce Trump.
During the Conan O’Brien podcast, Penn also spoke about playing late gay activist Harvey Milk in the 2008 movie Milk, for which he won his second Oscar.
“Today, almost certainly, I would not be permitted to be cast in that role,” he said. “We’re living in a time where if you’re playing a gay, elite character, you would have to be a gay man or a trans character.” He added that in today’s “pendulum-swing society that we’re in, you wonder at some point if only Danish princes can play Hamlet.”
Maybe Penn should do more to combat cancel culture, like refusing to demonize his political opponents.