Some of us can dish it, but we can’t take it. Sean Penn may not be the most egregious of know-nothing actors. He did revise some of his blanket statements about Iraq after spending a day or two there. But he seems to be oblivious to the basic criticism of Hollywood types using their celebrity to opine in front of TV cameras on every issue du jour – why them?
So when the makers of Team America wanted to have a little fun at his (and plenty of other’s) expense, he screamed like a stuck pig and issued a memo as if he were the Senator from Malibu:
It’s all well to joke about me or whomever you choose. Not so well, to encourage irresponsibility that will ultimately lead to the disembowelment, mutilation, exploitation, and death of innocent people throughout the world. The vote matters to them. No one’s ignorance, indcluding [sic] a couple of hip cross-dressers, is an excuse.
Penn concludes with the King of All Anglosaxonisms and an offer to take Team America’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone to Falluja. The filmmakers should animate Penn’s self-serving nonsense for a sequel. He certainly makes their point for them. I wouldn’t be surprised if this turned up on an episode of South Park.
UPDATE: Some insight here. (hat tip: Nancy Block)
Isn’t that guy a Madonna reject?
I wouldn’t be surprised if this turned up on an episode of South Park.
Hmmm… Parker and Stone should call Roger and ask him to write the screenplay
Ah yes Sean Penn the “obvious heir to Gandhi” in the memorable words of Julie Burchill – http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4786884-103390,00.html
“Is the Sean Penn who instructs the west to turn the other cheek when faced with Islamofascism the same Sean Penn, one wonders, who seems barely capable of seeing a cheek without itching to punch it? In the 1980s, this obvious heir to Gandhi spent a month in jail after a glorious attack on a harmless extra who committed the cardinal sin of trying to take the great man’s photograph on a film set. When one of his cars was stolen shortly after he returned from Iraq, it contained two guns.”
I also recall Penn attending a Hollywood get-together in honour of terrorist Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein. If I remember correctly Oliver Stone and Martin Sheen also attended that, no doubt, peace-loving event.
When Sean Penn went to Iraq, his writing about it was better than I expected. There was of course that streak of self importance, as if his opinion bore special significance. Seems his opinion of himself and his conviction of being anointed have come to the fore. I hope attacking cartoonists is as dangerous as they say. I mean, getting all self important and snarky with satirists has got to be a risky business, no?
I forgot to mention that Penn also made a remark about the Iraq war being about “3000 elderly white males” – or something like that.
He also expressed his delight that in his last years Ronald Reagan was literally a drooling old man. The same man gets all teary-eyed at the prospect of some murderer being lawfully executed by the state.
I can understand a teenager trying to shock the grown-ups and always take the side of those who seem to be the most anti-social and to spit in the face of common decency. But when a man is in his 40s he really ought to be passed that adolescent stage.
Roger,
I am interested in your impression of the overall involvement by the “talent” in the current election. It appears to me that a great many celebrities are keeping a low profile. Have you heard any buzz as to why that might be?
Well, first of all, Penn needs to grow up. Second, he better watch his head if he does go into Fallujah. He’s a prize target if there was one. I would imagine they would be delighted to get their hands on an actor involved in immoral movies.
Rick Ballard
It appears to me that a great many celebrities are keeping a low profile.
Interesting . . . what makes you say that?
Will be checking in later . . . off with Hubby and Mother to lunch and the orchid show at National Arboreteum . . . see y’all later!
The original BBC report,”He who casts the first stone” one could say.
“Actor Sean Penn has been accused of hitting a photographer for filming him as he walked with his father.
Michael Sindell told sheriff’s deputies in
California he was hit with a rock as he he videotaped them walking along a rural road on Monday.
Penn, 38, claims Sindell confronted him and his director father Leo and lunged at him.
Local deputy Bob Kileen said: “They exchanged some words and there was a brief altercation. At this point both sides are accusing each other of assault.”
No assault charges were filed against Penn, who served half of a 60-day jail term last year for breaking parole for punching an actor on the set of the movie Colors. The parole was for attacking a man who tried to kiss his then-wife Madonna in 1986.”
Love the stuck pig part. How about adding some sound effects Roger?
My sister is an actress. I have a policy of never talking to her about politics.
Sean Penn reminds me why.
Parker and Stone should issue a press release lamenting Penn’s attempt to stifle their dissent and his efforts to create a hostile environment for their views.
Hah! As I write this, the GoogleAd is for “Team America” … sdo I clicked it and watched the trailer.
What’s the first thing in the trailer?
A list of what look to be “above the title” stars, including Alec Baldwin and Sean Penn … followed by … no, I can’t do it. Watch the trailer.
“The fate of the world is hanging by a thread!”
Chuck ó What makes you think Ole Spiccoli wasn’t ghosted?
To paraphrase Mr. Hankey (and all children should please cover their ears):
“Sean Penn can suck my tiny little b****.”
What a greasy, self-important thug.
I really don’t have a problem with Sean Penn’s pontifications. I have a problem with the MSM publishing them. It just shows that they will quote any well known person with little to no expertise to promote their agenda.
Richard,
What makes you think Ole Spiccoli wasn’t ghosted?
Well, for one thing I would have placed the writer at about 25, which seems about right. There were also the occasional style clinkers, I recall something along the lines of: the hot air was like a punch in the face. Too many hardbitten detective novels for Sean, I’m afraid. And the self regard was hard to overlook.
I guess I was rather mindlessly bigoted, I was surprised that an actor could write at all. Shame on me.
Chuck ó and how old is Mr. Penn, exactly?
I refused to go see Mystic River because of this silly bastard.
Why should I give a rat’s ass what Sean Penn thinks? Is he even remotely interested in my opinion? Would he respect if if he heard it?
Actors forget that their livelihood is based on make believe. Once they begin to overshadow the parts they play, they are not interesting anymore. I stopped watching West Wing because everytime I looked at Martin Sheen I thought of that silly trick with the tape over his mouth.
It took all the fun out of it for me. And if me and people like me don’t have any fun watching them then people like Sean Penn are in trouble.
I have an idea. Why don’t all these selfrighteous and estremely rich movie stars pool their illgotten wealth and give it to some poor Hondurans who live in houses with dirt floors or something.
Put their money where their ideology is.
I read an interview with the South Park guys and they said they started creating each episode 6 days before airing. The new season starts at the end of this month, I bet Penn is ridiculed even more than than he has by them.
Richard,
in his forties, I believe, as the body ages.
Terrye,
Thats the problem,films don’t work without a suspension of disbelief,as soon as you see the real person behind the character the games up.The old Hollywood star system tightly policed actors to keep the public from seeing the reality behind the persona.If only for the sake of their careers they should just take the money,read the lines and not fall over the furniture.
From The Year 1000 by Robert Lacey & Danny Danziger: “Perhaps this is also the place to remark that many of the earthy epithets often described as “Anglo-Saxon” did not arrive until comparatively recent times: fokkinge, cunte, crappe, and bugger were all much later imports, probably coming from Holland as the later Middle Ages shaded into the great age of seafaring and exploration. There are absolutely no swear words or obscenities in Anglo-Saxon English, at least as the language has come down to us in the documents composed by its monkish scribes. The Anglo-Saxons could swear to do something, or could swear by something, but there is no record of them swearing at anything at all.”
Terrye ó PJ O’Rourke once suggested that Hollywood celebrities have no idea what money can actually do outside their cotton-candy environment, which is why they are so enamored of self-indulgence and conspicuous consumption…
In an ideal world, he’d be Sean Pencil. His logo would be a pencil with the wooden part eraser-length, and the eraser part, pencil-length.
Terrye hit the nail on the head “Why should I give a rat’s ass what Sean Penn thinks? Is he even remotely interested in my opinion? Would he respect it if he heard it?”
This is a theme that has been rattling around in my head since I read this post last week:
http://monger.blogspot.com/2004_10_03_monger_archive.html#109641416298165401
There seems to be a tendency to assume that people with a demonstrable knowledge in one subject have, ipso facto, the same level of knowledge about any subject – as when highly educated physicians are assumed to know more about health economics than actual economists. One never sees health economists making medical diagnoses, though… can you imagine the outcry? Even a great nuclear physicist isn’t equipped to engineer a nuclear reactor.
Celebrity also seems to attract this same air of expertise by virtue of having a lot of people listening to one’s opinion. Suddenly Meryl Streep has an opinion on agricultural matters that carries equal or GREATER weight than the FDA, the EPA, and scientists who study the impact of agricultural products on consumers. [Not that scientists or regulatory bodies never make mistakes, but shouldn't those mistakes be addressed by PEERS with opposing views?] Suddenly Donald Trump, by virtue of his real estate acumen, has an opinion on geopolitics that is worth mentioning in the same breath as those of Dr. Kissinger and Col. Powell. Carl Sagan was presumed to speak with authority about environmental issues – because hey! He’s like, a really really smart guy! And he WAS smart – but what it seems that lots of people fail to understand is that even though he was a famous cosmologist, outside of his particular discipline he knew no more than any reasonably intelligent person could learn by casual reading about a subject. In fact, as a cosmologist, he probably had an understanding about other branches of physics that was no more than an advanced undergraduate student’s, as I’m sure all of Roger’s many readers with postgraduate degrees know!
I think about it whenever I hear teachers and school administrators being cited as authorities on which is the best social or fiscal policy for education; physicians talking about health economics and gun control; celebrities talking about geopolitics and health and environmental issues and taxes and crime and guns and… pretty much anything but “the craft”. Once I had this “meme” in my head, I noticed more and more instances in the news.
No, Terrye, Sean Penn doesn’t care about YOUR opinion because so many dullards wanting to hear HIS opinion have made him believe that what he has to say is more important that what you have to say. His lack of judgment is demonstrated by his issuing a nasty letter to a couple of incorrigible hecklers – what did he think would be the consequence? I’d say look for a lawsuit from him sometime after the ‘retribution’ episode of South Park airs this next season… I can hardly wait!
I care about your opinion Terrye. I do I do I do.
Penn is one of the most charmless and repulsive actors EVER. I’ve been puzzled since Ridgemont how this hatchet-faced loser could have achieved any noteriety at all, much less celebrity.
Interviews with Penn are a continuation of his screen persona. Like Johnny Depp, he seems to have perfected an off screen pose entitled Young Intellectual. All the bullshit is in place, all the imponderables and clever twists of phrase, stock phrases and Lefty boilerplate are there. This guy is otherwise an idiot
Penn gives me flashbacks to those early sixties dorm worms who listened to Tom Rush, wore black turtlenecks, and who pursed their lips and brushed cigarette ashes out of their goatees when you asked them a question.
Penn also makes me wonder how much of “acting” is really cinematography, directing and editing, so that any mediocre clown in the right setting could be turned into a Sean Penn. Look at Tom Cruise, for God’s sake.
marktr – I agree but the answer as to why MSM promotes this dumbass’s opinions is also celebrity idolitry. For some reason since there is a whole celebrity industry people seem attracted to voyeuristic glances at these peoples private lives including their vapid political opinions.
BTW Terrye – Mystic River was a cliche wrapped inside of a stereotype of stock characters. I live in Boston and it may amaze people to know that people actually have cell phones and new cars and microwaves. They’re not living in run down triple deckers drinking Schlitz and throwing the bottles at anyone from out of the neighborhood. Well Hollywood’s all about make-belive anyhow.
To be fair, Penn’s extreme Left views probably aren’t a pose. His dad, Leo, was blacklisted in the 1950s for supporting the Hollywood Ten and refusing to cooperate with HUAC.
I saw the sneak preview of Team America Saturday night. The deliciously malicious send-up of Penn as a Left-wing supporter of a tyrant (and a Communist one to boot) is undoubtedly why he wrote the letter — that and his famously thin skin. The truth hurts, even when it’s caricature.
If you can live with the South Park level of profanity, and a fantastically graphic sex scene involving characters with no genitalia, I would heartily recommend it. Many wicked digs at dumb action flicks, the U.N., and the Hollywood Left. The good guys occasionally destroy the village to save it, but the villages involved aren’t ones that the viewers care much about (unless their last names are Chirac or Kerry).