Academy Award-winning actor and humanitarian activist Sean Penn had harsh words for everyone involved if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky does not address the awards show on Sunday.
Penn made the comments during an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta.
"If the Academy has elected not to do it, if presenters have elected not to pursue the leadership in Ukraine — who are taking bullets and bombs for us along with the Ukrainian children that they are trying to protect — then I think that every single one of those people and every bit of that decision will have been the most obscene moment in all of Hollywood history," Penn declared. "And I hope that that is not what is happening."
"And I myself, if it comes back to it, when I return [from Ukraine], I will smelt mine in public," he vowed. "I pray that is not what has happened."
Penn won Oscars for the movies "Milk" and "Mystic River." He is the founder of Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), which has been active in providing humanitarian relief in crisis areas for over a decade.
Penn has also been nominated three additional times in the best actor category.
Academy Award-winning actor @SeanPenn vows to smelt his Oscar if the Academy does not let @ZelenskyyUa address the awards show.\n\nInterview with CNN's Jim @Acosta.\n#Oscars #Ukrainepic.twitter.com/t8Ik3BzOz2— Bob Brigham (@Bob Brigham) 1648329322
