What did Sean Penn say about Will Smith in his latest interview?

Sean Penn, the 63-year-old two-time Academy Award-winning actor sat down for a recent interview with Variety. During the interview, the actor opened up on the unfortunate Will Smith incident that took place at the 94th Academy Awards in 2022.

In the much-talked-about incident, Smith went on to walk onstage at the 2022 Oscars and slapped comedian Chris Rock across the face, in response to the comedian's joke about the shaved head of his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

In the recent exclusive interview for Variety, Sean Penn called out Smith for his outrageous act at the Oscars and expressed his disgust about the whole incident. Penn said:

"I don’t know Will Smith. I met him once. He seemed very nice when I met him. He was so fu**ing good in King Richard,...So why the fu*k did you just spit on yourself and everybody else with this stupid fu**ing thing?"

Without further ado, let's dive right in to find out more details about what the Mystic River actor said about Will Smith, the 2022 Academy Award incident and more in his latest interview with Variety.

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"Why did I go to fu**ing jail for what you just did?": Sean Penn on the 2022 Will Smith Oscar incident

A still of Sean Penn (Image Via IMDb)

During the latest exclusive interview with Variety, Sean Penn gave a candid response to what Will Smith did to Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars.

The actor also called out all the Hollywood members who were present in the audience, for standing up and applauding Smith during his acceptance speech for winning the Best Actor Academy Award for his role in King Richard, right after the shocking incident.

In the Variety interview, Penn said, while addressing the incident:

"I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me....Why did I go to fu**ing 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?"

Will Smith had slapped Chris Rock on stage for joking about his wife (Image via Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

By the looks of what he said in the interview, it is quite understandable that the actor was referring to the 1987 incident involving him and an extra actor on the set of the film titled Colors.

As reported by the Los Angeles Times, in 1987, at the age of 26, Sean Penn was convicted and alter on sentenced to a total of 60 days behind bars in a county jail after he reportedly punched and spit on an extra actor on the set of Colors.

He had to serve a total of 33 days for his offense.

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During the interview with Variety, Penn also talked about the Academy’s refusal to allow Zelenskyy to speak at the 2022 Acamedy Awards, right after Russia invaded Ukraine. He said:

"The Oscars producer thought, ‘Oh, he’s not light-hearted enough.’ Well, guess what you got instead? Will Smith!...This fu**ing bullsh*t 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."

The actor further explained why he gave his Oscar trophies to Zelenskyy. In the interview, he said, while talking about it:

"I thought, well, fu*k, you know? I’ll give them to Ukraine. They can be melted down to bullets they can shoot at the Russians."

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The actor Sean Penn has also directed a brand new documentary regarding Ukraine’s fight against Russia, titled Superpower, along with co-director Aaron Kaufman.

The documentary film is all set to be released on September 18, 2023, on Paramount+.