Hollywood star Sean Penn has heavily criticized the Academy Awards. From Penn’s perspective, Will Smith’s infamous slap against Chris Rock would never have occurred at the 2022 Oscar ceremony if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had gotten a live broadcast. Selenski’s appearance was rejected several times by the Academy.
Sean Penn recently made a documentary about the war in Ukraine and President Zelensky. The two have remained close friends ever since. Penn even lent the president his Oscar as a kind of good luck charm until the end of the conflict. Since March 2014, neighboring Russia has been moving further into the country and launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In “Superpower” Sean Penn documented the current situation and traveled to the capital Kiev to meet with Zelensky.
Sean Penn on Will Smith’s “worst moment as a human being” and Volodomir Zelenskyi
Shortly after the start of the invasion, Zelensky, who was an actor and entertainer before taking office, tried to draw Western attention to the war in his country. For this reason, he probably also wanted to make a live connection to the Oscars 2022, which took place just a few weeks after the start of the invasion. But his request was rejected.
According to Penn, the action would have been worth it twice as the scandal of the evening would not have occurred. When comedian Chris Rock was about to announce the Best Documentary Feature category, he cracked a joke about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. The actor, who shortly afterwards accepted the award for best actor, then stormed the stage and slapped Rock in the face. Millions of viewers watched the moment on television in disbelief. Since then, Smith’s career has been on the rocks.
Sean Penn now claims that this would never have happened if Zelensky had addressed audiences: “The Oscars producers thought, ‘Oh, Zelensky isn’t light-hearted enough.’ Well, what did we get instead? Will Smith!,” the two-time Oscar winner told Variety magazine. “This damn shit would never have happened with Selenksi. Will Smith would never have left his seat to engage in such stupid violence. It would never have happened,” he continues, describing Smith’s “worst moment as a human being.”
When and where “Superpower” will appear in Germany is not yet known.