Fox News host Bill O’Reilly thinks Sean Penn is a terrific actor, and any director who hires him should expect nothing less than a fine performance.
But O’Reilly won’t plunk down his own cash to see it.
The traditional talker cannot stomach Penn’s support for dictators like Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers, so he refuses to support Penn’s projects.
Fellow film blogger Patrick Goldstein takes exception to O’Reilly’s stance. You shouldn’t boycott an artist because he/she doesn’t subscribe to your belief system.
Goldstein is right. Frankly, if you’re a conservative and decide to boycott movies starring liberal actors you’d be left to watch films made pre-1975.
But Penn isn’t your average politically active actor. He’s about as far left as anyone can be, and his embrace of radical figures, frankly, should give anyone with a moral compass pause.
But should you boycott his movies? Should WWTW and other movie bloggers?
I won’t for practical reasons. I can’t report on what I don’t see, and Penn remains a key figure in modern Hollywood. But I will post his outrageous comments here when necessary. Readers can then make up their own minds.
Some artists live morally bankrupt lives. How do you defend the actions of Woody Allen regarding the Soon-Yi Previn affair? How ’bout Roman Polanksi’s rape case?
I still watch their work but only because I love film, not due to any solidarity with their actions.
But if your average media consumer decides Penn’s positions are too radical, then I can’t chide them for refusing to pay for his movies.
(Photo: Actor Sean Penn’s politics impact how Fox News host Bill O’Reilly views his film career)
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{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m presently boycotting rutabegas. It’s not so much that I dislike their political stance, it’s their taste stance which bothers me. I object to any vegetable which attempts to emulate the flavor of toxic waste.
Similarly, I’m boycotting Sean Penn et al. It’s not that I object to their political stance, it’s every time I see them in a movie I’m taken out of that movie by the association that the guy on screen has smacked my values upside the face. The actor becomes the activist acting on screen, and not the character he/she is playing.
So you could say that I’m boycotting Sean Penn and rutabegas for the same reason. Why pay money for something that emulates toxic waste?
I think this is called “voting with your wallet.” And if it is in fact “wrong” then I am definitely guilty of sin.
Mind you I do not stop buying a product because a person has a different political (or moral) POV than I do. But if a person used their stardom (I am tempted to spell that “stardumb”) for ad hominem attacks on people I respect or gives vocal support to a tyrant then I simply cannot give them my money or do anything that will increase their public exposure.
I may be guilty of some measure of hypocrisy here however. I recently picked up a Sean Penn film in the $5 rejects bin at Walmart and have to admit that I delighted in doing so.
Good points, all. And I’ve never even had a rutabega so I won’t start now.
I think the jump to boycott the Dixie Chicks was short sighted … sure, I disagreed with them and Maines isn’t the brightest bulb. But their comments were nowhere near as inane or ill informed as Penn.
Well, first up, I’m a liberal so I’ll get that out of the way. I’m also a conscious consumer so I have sympathy with the concept. I don’t agree with Sean Penn on a lot of things– political and otherwise, but what matters to me is typically the movie and whether what I think about Sean Penn, or any other actor, disappears while I’m watching the movie. I don’t really care for Tom Cruise, and that’s problematic because when I watch a movie with him in it, I still see Tom Cruise. Same goes for a lot of lesser actors than Sean Penn. I don’t particularly care for Sean Penn but when he takes on a role, I don’t see Sean Penn anymore– he becomes the character. So, I don’t see the point in boycotting him. Heck, I don’t even boycott O”Reilly who I think can be a bit of an arse and hypocrite. LOL. On the other hand, if you want to make a point, you do have to make tough choices. I love hamburgers. I salivate when I smell them, but I’m a vegetarian due to environmental concerns and a real problem with the way big agriculture is done in this country. So, I forgo meat– and a whole range of other stuff. When I think about it that way, I understand O’Reilly’s point. It’s that important to him and he thinks it’ll make a difference. I suppose each person has to consider where they stand when it comes to Penn’s support– and whether it’s really “support”– of dubious characters.
Ramble, ramble. Sorry that was so long!
Ramble away, Alyson … and thanks for thoughtful comments. Liberals are welcome here … if they weren’t, Mrs. WWTW wouldn’t be able to read this site!
In general, this issue does not apply to my movie viewing habits because I am usually not interested in the types of movies that the “hot button” actors make. The most recent example of my not supporting someone based on their personal life is Amy Winehouse. From what I have heard of her music, I really like it – but I haven’t bought her CD because I don’t want to be reminded of her trainwreck life everytime I listen to it. I think that it what it would ultimately come down to for me – if their personal lives/views would cause me not to enjoy their “product” then I would opt out. I read the O’Reilly interview yesterday and I thought that was his stance, as well. Sean Penn was a bridge too far for him. A luxury that movie reviewers (and/or any other type of reviewer) does not have. Sorry WWTW!
As far as the Dixie Chicks go, I did not agree with the country music boycott of them either; but I also felt they were whining about their “plight” a little too much. The Constitution guarantees the right to say whatever you would like – it does not absolve you of any consequences for exercising that right. You place your bets, you takes your chances.
Alyson’s rambles are catching!
This is a great and important post and glad to see it brought up.
Whenever an actor, athlete or other public figure elevates their politics or behavior over their day job, I say they are fair game.
Terrell Owens has made a career out of making news off the football field. That turns me off. The Dixie Chicks made their politics more newsworthy than their obnoxious country-fied pop, at the detriment and opposition of their main audience. Stone Temple Pilots quit selling albums when it became more about Scott Weiland’s drug use and antics than the music.
Why financially support something or someone you don’t agree or believe in? I’m not for banning anyone or publicly censoring anyone, but people have the freedom to endorse whatever they want with their dollars, that’s called choice, a fresh concept to those who supported the Dixie Chicks and threw the Hitler charge ad nauseum when fans were fed up with hearing them on the radio.
If I’m pumping gas on the corner, and I make every customer sit through a diatribe on the greatness of Castro and Chavez, I see that as no different then an actor injecting their behavior or politics into their work. The actor won’t get fired, but you can turn him off if they choose to make it about something other than their work.
Great final point, JohnFN’ …
To Penn’s credit, he’s often so good on screen that you stop thinking about him as a person and get lost in the role. His talent takes him very far.
But I’ll add this to the debate. Weren’t there protest groups out to get Isiah Washington for using the “F” word for gays off the set of “Grey’s Anatomy?” He took serious heat for that … but shouldn’t we have simply shrugged and said, “he’s an artist, it doesn’t really matter what his views are.”
I did shrug and thought he was a tool. But his behavior was costing his employers money/ratings and they chose not to renew his contract (even though he went to utterance rehab) and that was within their right. If your off time has detrimental effects on your company and work time, your company has just cause to adios your butt.
I did think the protest groups were a bit much, but isn’t there a protest group for everything nowadays? I want to form one to protest laundry – who is with me?
I feel sorry for the people in Venezuela and the freedom they are missing. I think it is sad that we, Americans, who have so much freedom are not caring for others in depressed countries. I also feel ashamed that people who have profited from our great country give glory to areas that take away freedom from their countrymen and do not feel symphany for others. I will vote for freedom by passing on the films of Sean Penn.
To me the determining factors are obnoxiousness and disrespect. It’s possible to be a liberal actor or entertainer and not insult your audience, or treat them with contempt. Artists like Penn and a few others cross the obnoxiousness line with me, and I retaliate for it by not supporting their product. The Dixie Chicks crossed both the obnoxiousness line and the contempt line, stating that they didn’t like the country audience and were happier with the less lucrative folk/americana/pop audience they have since catered to. Well, good for them. Artists simply cut their own throats when they purposely alienate large segments of their audience.
It’s not a matter of boycotting for me. If I avoid a movie by an actor who I find annoying it’s because the association with whatever moronic thing they said or did is so strong it makes it impossible to enter that other world where the actor becomes the character. It ruins the movie.
Hm… looks like that’s what everyone is saying.
What the actors, authors, and producers and who-all-else should realize is that when you lose audience that way, it’s effortless for them. I don’t watch Law & Order anymore because of political stuff on the show and I used to love it. But I’m not boycotting it… I just don’t want to watch it anymore. It’s effortless.
There’s a difference between “boycotting” and simply not going to the movie. Just choose the latter and move on. We vote for these movies by the all-mighty dollar.
Well, I have being boycotting left wingers like Penn for years. If a left wing actor expresses his views without vitriol and or ugly language then I will line up to see his films. However when actors go overboard and start praising and cuddling up to knowingly evil and brutal murderous dictators or preferring them to our own leaders who aren’t even comparable in actions then I say ENOUGH. Lets face it the Liberal film critics and media bloggers and or pundits trash and demean conservative actors or conservative theme films all the time because of differences in idealogy. So why shouldn’t the regular moviegoer follow suit and do the same.
Not just as a conservative, but a human being, I reject Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black outright for their hypocrisy on gay rights.
They put themselves up as heroes, attacking the Mormon Church like Atilla the Hun, yet both remain dead silent on Iran’s ‘Gay Genocide’ called the Gay Holocaust in Iran. It’s sickening! They hunt gays online, raid gay parties, brutally torture them, then string them up from crane wires to die slow deaths of suffocation and strangulation. It is happening as we speak.
The extermination of all homosexuals within Iran’s borders has been Islamist Iran’s state policy since the Revolution in 1979. In 2005, Iran’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, jacked their anti-gay pogrom way up from a passive search into an aggressive manunt, as I have described. It’s an Auschwitz for Gays in Iran!
In fact, Iran is so pleased with their domestic gay extermination program, they’re now exporting it to Iraq in the form of death squads. Their idea of a cultural exchange, I guess. Kind of like Hitler’s with Poland.
Hear anything from them at all about it? Even today? Crickets!
My heroes.
In fact, I even threw my screenwriting career away to fight AMPAS on their Iran trip because of this stuff! It is no less offensive to me than sending a cultural delegation to Hitler’s Berlin during the Holocaust.
You can find more info on that Iran horrorshow stuff on the web. Too much, actually.
Be a long time before I ever give Hollywood a dime again in ANY medium! If I have to put Dark Knight on endless loop, so be it.
I’ll defend Sean Penn’s right to say whatever he wants to say–but by the same token, why should I spend my money to see his films? Just because he is a good actor? Isn’t that part of the problem in society today–we “forgive” people for obnoxious and objectionable behavior because they do one thing good? Do you go to a restaurant because they have good ribs but the service and cleanliness is horrible? Do you hire a tutor for your child because he/she is very knowledgeable in the required subject area but is disrespectful and curses your child? They’re a lot of actors/actresses who say things that are against my political view or my personal beliefs and I will still gladly go see their films. But if that person goes out of their way to “put down” my rights to my opinions and spews hateful language toward me because I disagree with them–then I will exercise my right to never go see a film with Sean Penn in it again.
It is not that Penn, a former pot-smoking surfer dude struggling to get past Mr. Hand’s history class, is a bad actor. It is the constant upswelling of the political crap, the social issues, the egalitarian smugness. It is bad customer relations. Yes, that is what it boils down to. Acting is a service-based industry.
Having to watch talent on the screen or on Direct TV, then see these people spewing their rants does deligitimize their standing in my book. Why would I give a damn about watching anymore movies with Sean Penn now that I know that his politics and standing are actually a bit offensive to me? Well, it turns out I don’t. Just like Mr. Sucher, I also vote with my wallet. I do it for gas, dishwashers, sirloin, lumber, etc. It is capitalism and the service based industry is just as much a part of it.
In the end, popular support for people who look down upon their audience with disgust, especially when the members do not subscribe to their political or personal beliefs, will of course falter. As their marketability deflates, the desire to get them in new movies will go away as well. Other than that, porn would be their next logical step. Then game shows.
Penn? Boycott Penn?
He would actually have to be, or have been somebody in order to boycott. Penn is a nobody, has been a nobody for more than two decades? Has to scream and yell ignorant obscenities on topics he know absolutely nothing about just to get a bit of attention.
Boycott? there’s nothing to boycott. Ignore him like the world has for so long and he will just disappear into nothing…like he’s been most of his ‘professional’ life.
I have not seen a Sean Penn movie since Fast Times. I agree with the comments above. I wouldn’t see a movie or listen to a record, other than country if I only listened to conservative actors/musicians.
I still see Tom Cruise/John Travolta movies even though I disagree with their religious views. I never miss a movie with Mrs. Travolta in it. While Cruise says some dumb things, he is never outright offensive, and the Travolta are about as bland as you can be.
Penn is in another class. If you go out of your way to offend your audience, you have to expect your audience will shrink. It is neither censorship or illegal. It is simply that actions have consequences.
Penn is on my s@%# list ,(not beacuse of his politics), because he likes to go overseas and bad mouth his, (our) country. He does this where he can get a sympathizing, US hating audience.
I boycott his interviews. His movies, however, also feature the hard work of hundreds of other people whom I have no reason to boycott. But he is a jerk who likes pretty much every other country on Earth over the United States.
My significant other put Into The Wild on her Netflix and its been sitting on our coffee table for weeks. This is the second time she’s done this. Never gets played and never goes back. There’s my first problem with something related to Sean Penn.
My other beef with Sean Penn is that he made that book into a movie. I grew up in Alaska and they teach you survival skills when you enter Elementary school. I knew more about the flora, fauna and geography of Alaska by age 10 then McCandless did at almost twice that age. To honor that story, again, with a movie, is a travesty all by itself. Personally, I could care less about all the other stuff Penn has done. I rarely watch any of his flicks, but I refuse to watch this particular movie because I know what happens and I’m afraid Penn will end it like it was just a terrible accident or tragedy. I won’t honor that movie by watching it. That story, while true, doesn’t need to be glorified as some great adventure gone wrong. McCandless was a fool to go into the Alaska wilderness and think he could survive under the conditions granted him. Sean Penn should have made that film to show McCandless’ foolhardiness. Then I might have more respect for the actor/director.
His brother was in cooler films anyway.
Sean Penn also goes beyond the pale of most politicized actors because of his personality. On the one hand, I agree that one should not refuse to experience a work of art by an artist you diagree with. On the other hand, Penn goes further than any modern actor in antagonizing through vulgarity, taunts and bully pulpiting those he disagrees with.
Goldstein mentions Eastwood and Ford as conservatives he won’t boycott. But last time I checked whenever Clint wins an award he does not use it as a podium to look down with scorn upon those who disagree with him. Clint is all class. Penn is a vulgarian with a moral compass so off it can’t help but grate. Even on left-wing film boards people seem to have had enough of his sanctimious ignorance.
Left wing actors like Clooney or even Tim Robbins can still come off civil and have a sense of humour. Not so Penn. He is motivated by anger and never laughs at his own expense.
The other thing about Penn is that nobody has to boycott him as he rarely makes films that ever connect with the mass audience. In order to boycott something I have to want it to begin with and Penn has infused virtually all of his recent films (save Mystic River) with such a left-wing bent that I wouldn’t see them if Clint Eastwood acted in them.
He is one of the few actors I can think of that is considered an icon who has virtually no hits. Even Depp realized he had to connect with people in mainstream fare to bring his craft full circle.
Penn makes no concessions to the average person. Why should they make any concessions to him? This is what Goldstein misses.
For me it is not so much that Penn is a left winger, it’s that he is in the twilight zone as exhibited by his words spoken from his pulpit at the Oscars where he ranted that the folks opposed to gay marriage are morally corupt/homophobic. It is the height of narcicism when one can only view the world from the shoes one is wearing.
I boycott Hollywood types who shove their views down the public’s throat.Penn,Baldwin and recently Damon are prime examples.Why support people who belittle conservatives or merely those who have opposing views.They would throw me under the nearest bus and I would be a fool to hand my money over to them.
But I’ll add this to the debate. Weren’t there protest groups out to get Isiah Washington for using the “F” word for gays off the set of “Grey’s Anatomy?” He took serious heat for that … but shouldn’t we have simply shrugged and said, “he’s an artist, it doesn’t really matter what his views are.”
I have no problem giving the benefit of the doubt to someone for a mistake, which is what Washington made. It wasn’t like he was standing in front of cameras at the Emmys and holding a sign with “F@G” displayed over someone’s head, or repeating it on talk shows. It was a one-time occurrence, made into a media spectacle.
But to repeatedly put behavior, politics or anything purposely divisive above your work in controversial ways is another thing.
And my, has this thread become popular.
Sean Penn is a useful idiot to all the tyrants with which he lunches. I’m not going to subsidize that behavior. Plus I think his movies, other than Fast Times, suck.
Should Penn be boycotted?
Is the Pope Catholic?
Is the Ayatollah Muslim?
Does a camel take a dump in the dessert?
Is the Chavez a commie rat?
what does robin see in him???
Watcher, She sees the same in him we all do: The Great Facade. He doesn’t win acting awards for nothing.
By the way, it’s bad enough Penn sent flowery Mad Mullah PR dispatches from Tehran, the epicenter of today’s Auschwitz for Gays, back in 2005. Now he pals around with Hugo Chavez, even as the persecution of gays is on the rise in Venezuela. Some gay hero, huh?
Like the article on gay persecution in Venezuela correctly states, Sean Penn may not be a gay rights advocate, but he plays one on TV.
I stopped watching “Boston Legal” because of the constant liberal rants that filled the scripts. To be fair, the liberal rants and liberal themes became longer and more overt in the later seasons.
And I do make choices based on the expressed politics of the actors. Here is how:
1) I will wait for the cheapest opportunity to watch the film. This means I won’t go to the theater to see it. I won’t buy it on pay per view. I might pay $5.00 to the black market dealer who works my neighborhood. (I live in a medium size city in Connecticut.) If and only if I just have to watch it. There are not too many of those films. Last Sean Penn film I watched was “Something Happened”. But I’ve seen “The Game” (great film) and “Mystic River”, not so great. I have seen none of his more political films. Nor do I pay attention to what he says. To be honest, I lost all respect for him during Katrina and his boat outing. Sorry, Sean, if you and your crew don’t know how to handle a 14 foot run-about, why on earth should I listen to your political opinions?
2) Or, I won’t watch it at all based on the reviews that I’ve read. And lets face it, the bad guys in these films are almost universally white. They are any religion but Islam, unless the Muslim fanatic has been driven to his position by harsh and discriminatory treatment. . They may be a greedy corporation, or a greedy member of a church (Catholic, Mormon, Christian Right Wing, etc), or a greedy member of the Republican party and, also, a racist. Or just a moronic white trash american.
3) My entertainment dollar is not unlimited, nor is my leisure time. And why should I spend time and money watching a film made and publicized by some one who despises me? Any excuse that gets me off the couch is a good thing.
4) What bothers me most about Hollywood political posturing and the inherent contradiction in their positions. The Hollywood industry wants tax breaks in every state and country in which they work. Much of the industry is devoted to getting the most money they can. Sean Penn does not work for free……and I wonder how much money he has given to charity in comparison to the amount of money he gives his drug dealer.
Personally, I wish that Penn and other in Hollywood of his ilk would spend some time talking to Russian, North Korean, Iranian and Venezuelan actors to get their take on what working in those countries is like. And if Obama really wants to regulate salaries, maybe Hollywood is the place he should start.
I did see Crossing Over and I thought it was a good movie. Let’s not forget that there were other good actors and actresses in these story lines, even if Sean Penn’s part had not been removed, that made it worth seeing.
We actually all have a right to speak our minds, being Americans, but we also have to be prepared for the consequences if what we say annoys or even harms others. Someone mentioned earlier that those people tend to brings themselves down with their words or actions. I think the public’s backlash is meant to put them in their place. If they are smart, they will be humbled by their fellow human-beings’ reactions.
I think the Tom Cruise backlash episode was a good example of what can happen when you speak about topics you have no knowledge of—concerning the Brooke Shields incident. When a man is able to actually have the experience of postpartum depression, then and only then can he factually speak from experience.
As for boycotting—I think someone else mentioned “just don’t watch.” We do have the remote in hand. We can change the channel or keep watching. The same with our money for movies—we can spend it on their films or choose not to.
I will never support anyone who has taken my values and slammed them against the wall. It is my gog-given right as an American to do so. Everyone has the right to say I don’t have a god-given right as an American, btu I don’t have to support them either.
I broke my Dixie Chicks CD’s after they tread upon America and turn the rasdio channel everytime I hear their music. I have done the same with the one Sean Penn Video I possessed and will not be watching any of his future or past movies again.
As others have stated, I ahve the right to choose where I spend my time and money and I choose never to support someone who blatently steps on this country.