After skipping out on this yr’s 98th Academy Awards, Sean Penn loved watching the awards present on tv for as soon as.
The 3x Oscar winner, who most not too long ago received Greatest Supporting Actor for One Battle After One other, defined that the awards ceremony has “all the time represented social discomfort to me,” which is why he wasn’t current to just accept the award in particular person.
“I received’t go wherever to be with a chosen group past eight individuals,” Penn mentioned throughout a dialog on Friday on the Tribeca Movie Competition, in response to USA Right now. “For those who lower out two hours in your evening, it offers you quarter-hour per particular person.”
Noting that any greater than that “is simply anxiety- and dread-inducing,” Penn mentioned that “everyone understood” on the One Battle After One other crew why he selected to overlook the occasion, the place the movie additionally took residence Greatest Image.
“They know me, and so they felt that it was higher for my psychological well being,” mentioned Penn, including: “Having solely felt reduction a pair different instances, I received to be excited watching the awards. I actually received to benefit from the Academy Awards for the primary time. It was nice.”

Sean Penn meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine on November 8, 2022.
Photograph by Ukrainian Presidency / Handout/Anadolu Company through Getty Photos
Penn admitted he selected to schedule a visit to fulfill with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the course of the Oscars telecast, so he wouldn’t need to attend.
Having beforehand received Greatest Actor for Mystic River (2003) and Milk (2008), Penn defined “the most effective I might ever muster was reduction” over the victories, understanding that the individuals concerned with these films have been supporting him.
The actor opted to take a seat out the remainder of awards season after attending the 83rd Golden Globes in January, noting he couldn’t deal with “all of the selfies” and small speak.
“Individuals mustn’t do selfies with anybody ever. It’s dangerous for you,” mentioned Penn. “The Holocaust grandmother and her 6-year-old paraplegic [grandson] wheeling over? A tough no.”
Penn beforehand gave considered one of his Oscars to Zelenskyy, explaining it was impressed by his “persevering with disgrace in the direction of the Movement Image Academy,” after the Academy didn’t invite the Ukrainian president to talk amid their 2023 documentary Superpower.
After Penn skipped this yr’s ceremony, Zelenskyy known as him “a real buddy of Ukraine” for standing by the nation since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Oleksandr Pertsovskyi, CEO of Ukrainian Railways, even offered him with an Oscar-shaped award constituted of war-damaged steel of a Ukrainian railcar.
