If Ukraine’s Zelenskyy is not allowed to speak during the broadcast
Penn said it would be “the most obscene moment in Hollywood history” if Zelenskyj was not allowed to speak. the Actor Sean Penn says he will destroy his Oscar if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not allowed to speak during the Oscars broadcast.
In an interview , Penn, 61, said it was paramount that Zelenskyy speak during Sunday’s show.
“The Academy Awards can’t do better than give him a chance to speak to all of us,” Penn said.
He said that if Zelenskyy does not get the floor for a speech during the broadcast, he will destroy his own Oscar.
“When I come back, I’ll smell mine in public,” he said. “I pray that doesn’t happen.”
Penn, speaking from Warsaw, Poland, was recently in Ukraine to film a documentary about the conflict with Russia. He is making the documentary with Vice Studios in partnership with ViceWorld News and Endeavor Content, a Vice spokesman confirmed in February.
Penn reminded viewers in the interview that Zelenskyy is also a fellow actor with a long career in the arts.
“And by the way, this is a man who understands movies and has had his own very long and successful career in it,” said Penn.
Netflix announced this month that the popular political satire TV series Servants of the People will return to the streaming platform, starring Zelenskyy.
“You asked for it and it’s back!” The company tweeted. “Servant of the People is back on Netflix in the US. The 2015 satirical comedy series stars Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who plays a teacher who
unexpectedly becomes president after a video in which he complains about corruption suddenly goes viral.
Penn said that while he felt Zelenskyy shouldn’t be allowed to speak on the show, he hoped he was wrong.
He said that if Zelenskyy were not allowed to speak, it would be a moment that will forever reverberate in industrial history.
“Well, I understand that the decision was made not to do it…if the academy decided not to do it, if the moderators decided not to go against the leadership in Ukraine getting bullets and bombs for us along with the Ukrainian kids they’re trying to protect, so I think every one of those people and every part of that decision is going to be the most obscene moment in Hollywood history,” Penn said.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
