Sean Penn threatens to virtually violate AI versions of studio heads’ daughters, and other alarming quotes
Sean Penn gives his opinion on artificial intelligence, Will Smith, and 9/11 in an eyebrow-raising new interview
Aux News Sean Penn
The new Sean Penn profile on Variety could alternately be titled, “A dozen alarming quotes from Sean Penn.” The actor is known for being a bit out there, as in out there at El Chapo’s drug compound. He brought his typically intense energy to this latest interview, in which he imagines the hypothetical sexual assault of his nemeses’ daughters not once but twice. And he gets in a “9/11 would’ve gone down differently if I was there.” And he weighs in on The Slap. What can’t he do?
Here’s a list of the most jaw-dropping things Sean Penn said to Variety, from least to most shocking:
5. His first impression of Ukranian comedian-turned-president Volodymyr Zelenskyy: “His brain is fully oxygenated. His eyes are clear and he’s warm. I knew I’m either going to feel nothing or I’m going to let myself love him.” (“It blew my mind” that Zeleneskyy kept his first meeting with Penn because “There were Chechen kill squads in the streets already,” the actor said.)
4. Where he keeps his Oscars: After Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars, the very statues themselves were tainted for Penn, who has two. “I thought, well, fuck, you know? I’ll give them to Ukraine. They can be melted down to bullets they can shoot at the Russians.” He did not follow through on this threat, but did give one to Zelenskyy. “I told him to keep it and bring it to Malibu after all this is over and his country is safe,” Penn told the outlet with what was characterized as “a hopeful smile.”
3. His opinion on Will Smith: Penn became “furious” remembering that the Oscars turned down an appearance from Zelenskyy (“not light-hearted enough”) only to be interrupted by Smith’s act of violence. He had a confusing list of hypothetical questions for Smith, who was “fucking good” in King Richard: “So why the fuck did you just spit on yourself and everybody else with this stupid fucking thing? Why did I go to fucking jail for what you just did? And you’re still sitting there? Why are you guys standing and applauding his worst moment as a person?”
It’s unclear in what sense that Penn “went to jail” over Smith’s slap. He also asserted: “This fucking bullshit wouldn’t have happened with Zelenskyy. Will Smith would never have left that chair to be part of stupid violence. It never would have happened.” Okay… sure!
2. What he would’ve done as United States President on 9/11: “I’d have let White House counsel know that they are on vacation. I’m not consulting with them. If I have to go to prison, I’ll go, but I’m going to kill them,” Penn declared, lest he be outdone by Mark Wahlberg. “I’m killing everyone that did this. But only them. And we know where the fuck they are.”
1. That weird stuff about other people’s daughters: Penn’s distaste and distrust for the studios’ proposed use of artificial intelligence in the SAG-AFTRA negotiations is reasonable, but his response is, shall we say, not at all proportional. “So you want my scans and voice data and all that. OK, here’s what I think is fair: I want your daughter’s, because I want to create a virtual replica of her and invite my friends over to do whatever we want in a virtual party right now. Would you please look at the camera and tell me you think that’s cool?” No can do, Sean.
Bizarrely, the hypothetical studio head’s daughter is not the only daughter in his crosshairs. Paraphrasing one critic who denounced his involvement with Ukraine, Penn said, “‘Don’t encourage these Ukrainians or support them to win this thing we all say we stand for because you might create problems for us that are nuclear.’ It’s saying, ‘OK, I’ll be your bitch. You want my daughter as your sex slave?’” Um, is it though?
So there you have it—and those are the quotes that are fit to publish in the “near three-hour conversation” with Variety. Wishing all the best to Sean Penn’s publicist in this difficult time.
67 Comments
Oh no he used hyperbole to make a point about AI! Clickbait sites NEVER do that kind of thing.
Not a fan of regurgitating another site’s interviews. Sure, if there was a single newsworthy thing, I can see highlighting it. But this? It’s just lazy.
The problem is that his point is a bad one. If the studio uses his likeness it is because he willingly and knowingly sold it to them to be used as they wanted. Someone’s daughter did not.
Pinch of nuance here: I think he’s trying to use the only example a soulless studio exec might connect with to imply what exploitation of something you cherish feels like.
“Hyperbole” lol
Not that it helps but I think the sense in which he “went to jail” for what Will Smith “just did” was that Penn has gone to jail for assault, as well as had legal issues related to hitting or punching reporters and paparazzi, and he’s conflating it with Smith receiving an award and getting applause after just having also committed assault
True, but people would probably be more inclined to equate the two if Smith had a well-documented history of assault. It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if Smith had been arrested for that but he still wasn’t doing jail time for a first-time slapping.
Sean, please stop trying to help.
They asked him questions and he gave answers. What’s your problem?
Mr Penn, this is an Arby’s.
Yeah, I know…
Sean Penn Continues to be A LotETA:“So why the fuck did you just spit on yourself and everybody else with this stupid fucking thing? Why did I go to fucking jail for what you just did? And you’re still sitting there? Why are you guys standing and applauding his worst moment as a person?” It’s unclear in what sense that Penn “went to jail” over Smith’s slap.You could, you know, look this shit up. Penn has a long history of assault arrests, and he’s most likely referring to this incident:In April 1987, Penn violated probation and was arrested for punching a film extra, Jeffrey Klein, on set of the movie Colors. Penn was sentenced to 60 days in jail for this assault and reckless driving in June 1987, of which he served 33 days.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Penn#Legal_issues)
It’s incredible that an entertainment writer doesn’t know about the first thing that comes to mind about Sean Penn for anyone who was were aware of him in 1987.
Really makes you worry about Mel Gibson’s reputation.
1987 is pre-Internet, and Kate Carr thinks that means ‘too long ago to be relevant’.
It’s incredible that an entertainment writer doesn’t know about the first thing that comes to mind about Sean Penn for anyone who was were aware of him in 1987Do you mean to, falsely I might add, imply there were things of import prior to the year 2000? What heresy is this!
I think from her writing and tone (across her work) it’s clear she wasn’t around in 1987. I’d be shocked if she was around in 1997.
I thought we’d established “Mary” was the pseud for AVC’s AI content scraper.
to be fair, he’s probably more well-known for beating the crap out of madonna.
The most prominent of many, certainly.
I had to stop watching a Youtube video the other day because it referred to Christopher Plummer as ‘this dude who was in Knives Out’ and treated Crispen Glover’s filmography as a novelty its audience would be unfamiliar with.
In high school (around 2002) I met a classroom full of people who thought Beethoven was “that guy from the dog movie” and that the Bible was the story of “that Dude who creates the world” (??). Nowadays I’m not even sure they would know about the dog movie.
Many adults weren’t born in 1987, it’s absolutely normal that this wasn’t “the first thing that comes to mind”. But it is inexcusable for a writer to not do a basic internet search on the subject of an article.
Yes, I’m saying that when it’s the first thing to come to mind for someone who was there, at arguably the peak of his fame, it ought to be known to someone writing about the subject.
Yeah, when I got to that part I thought Mary was being alarmingly dumb. As much as he was rambling, I understood that part at least. Sometimes I wonder if she’s being intentionally dumb to provoke a reaction.
Why did I go to fucking jail for what you
just did? […]
It’s unclear in what sense that Penn “went to jail” over Smith’s slap.I think she just didn’t parse that first sentence right. I had to back up and think about it for a second myself when I first read it.But yeah, you should think about a sentence like that for a second if your going to write an article and get snarky about it.
I’m guessing Penn is referring to when he was dating Madonna and famously punched a photographer who he believed was attempting to assault her at a media availability. That would make his quote seem a bit more relevant to Smith punching Rock in “defense” of his wife.
Who cares what this person has to say?Oh god, I do, because I’m commenting on it.I can never be fully rational because I’m HERE, commenting on things.IT’S A TRAAAP!
Speak up, mumbles. No one can understand you!
I think he said “Big Boy did it.”
How DARE you defend Woody Allen?! Wait, what?
Maybe take a break from the interwebs, doode.
Go pick a hill to die on. Maybe Dawes Hill?
Like when he violated Madonna during their marriage?
It’s unclear in what sense that Penn “went to jail” over Smith’s slap. the internet is free: https://www.thedailybeast.com/sean-penns-horrifying-history-of-alleged-abuse
It may be an OG gif but it NEVER gets old.
The bit about studio heads’ daughters is pretty poignant and clear.
Bonkers dude, but he is entertaining. He’s the car wreck you cannot take your eyes off of. I still don’t know how he hooked up and married both Robin Wright and Leila George. Mind blowing.
He seems like a barrel of laughs.
What I got from this article is that Sean Penn totally has a man-crush on Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
he hasn’t been this obsess- uh, smitten since hugo chavez.
Which is weird because the people who tend to love Chavez are very, very pro-Putin.
I mean, dude’s brain is fully oxygenated. How can you resist that?
Clear eyes, oxygenated brain, can’t lose.
There’s something about a man in a army sweater.
It’s saying, ‘OK, I’ll be your bitch. You want my daughter as your sex slave?’” Um, is it though?It’s what Ukraine would be saying if they ever quit fighting.
Fuck this guy. That “I want a virtual model of your daughter” stuff is so bizarre. It’s like yelling at someone using a camera and telling them “oh yeah, well I want nude photos of your kid then!”
I don’t think this comparison is fair. He’s talkng about the idea of creating an avatar from an actor (dead or alive) and using it for “work” or movies or tv or whatever, to do things that the actor may or may not have approved of. Like “Fred Astaire in a vaccuum commercial” or “Sean Penn selling Burger King”.
I don’t think I would make the same metaphorical hyperbolic example of “violating someone’s child” but I understand the fear of what that cxould lead to for an actor, especially a famous/successful/well-known one.That’s not even to mention what they/it might do to, say, young female actresses of any age, when the creeps get the ability to begin making those types of deepfake videos.
If he’d asked for the likeness of the executives as a trade that’s one thing. Bringing up assaulting the likeness of their daughters is gross misogynistic crap that doesn’t need your defense.
The thing with AI representations of other people being misused for monetary gain, I get what he’s trying to say. But boy did he say it wrong.And why is it that men seem always to jump to rape as a way to illustrate an extreme point?Maybe lay off the rape, be it thinking, explaining, or doing, okay guys? Definitely stop musing about it out loud at the very least. Fucking creepos.
Exactly. He could’ve just asked for a likeness trade with the suits but he had to bring their daughters into it.
enn has confirmed that on the night of December 28, 1988, Madonna called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to their shared home on Carbon Mesa Road following a fight. What exactly transpired during that fight remains a mystery.The People was the first to report on the incident, claiming: “Sexy pop star Madonna spent New Year’s Eve trussed up like a turkey after being cruelly battered by her drunken, bully-boy husband Sean Penn. The terrified singer was beaten, gagged, strapped to an armchair with flex and left for nine hours.”The same article reported that Madonna was untied by household staff, and when police arrived, they wrote it off as a minor domestic tiff. The New Yorker later reported that Penn was not arrested after this incident.In Madonna Revealed: The Unauthorized Biography, author Douglas Thompson elaborated: “It was just after 4:00 P.M. on December 28 when Penn broke into his own home. Madonna had allowed all the help time off for the holidays. Penn put Madonna through hours of terror. He hit her, he tied her up, and he humiliated her. He also sexually assaulted her.”
https://www.gawker.com/did-sean-penn-beat-up-madonna-an-archaeology-of-hollyw-1748746261
I have a friend who’s been told to “fuck off” by Sean Penn on multiple occasions. Apparently you shouldn’t say hello to Penn if you see him on the street.
I think I can resist the temptation.
What if you see him on the street and tell him to fuck off?
He replies “HELLO!”
Mothers, lock up your daughters, Sean Penn is about!No, seriously, please don’t let Sean Penn anywhere near your daughters.
Sean Penn, seen here, uh, having a stroke?
This is going to hurt his chances of ever getting the long awaited sequel II Am Sam made.
But it’d be AI Am Sam.I’ll see myself out….
That Penn…back on top.
It’s pretty clear that this idiot hasn’t changed much. He should direct some of those opinions toward his OWN behavior for once…
Terrible Journalism Silver Lining, at least: Mary didn’t cite Licorice Pizza as proof that Sean Penn wants to endanger the members of Haim.
Same thing I always post when I see a Sean Penn article (since they all seem to have the same vibe)…I just miss Spicoli.
Oh look, another daily reminder that cancel culture isn’t real.