Sean Penn secured his third Oscar, yet he was absent from the 98th Academy Awards ceremony, leaving many to speculate about the reason for his no-show. This was particularly true for those who were not aware of the actor’s sentiments regarding the event.
Penn received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film One Battle After Another and ultimately won, but he was not present to accept the accolade. Instead, it was Kieran Culkin, last year’s Best Supporting Actor winner, who presented this year’s category and accepted the Oscar on Penn’s behalf. “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want to,” he humorously remarked.
In addition to skipping the ceremony at the Dolby Theater, Penn also missed the BAFTAs and the Actor Awards over the past month, where he could have celebrated his victories.
While Penn hasn’t issued any formal statement about his absence, sources close to him informed The New York Times that he intended to visit Ukraine as of last week. It remains unconfirmed whether he actually traveled to Ukraine or not.
Ghosting the Oscars is not a new occurrence for Penn, 65. He also skipped the ceremony in 1996 when he was nominated for Dead Man Walking, in 2000 for Sweet and Lowdown, and in 2002 for I Am Sam, as reported by The Associated Press.
Sharing his thoughts on the ceremony, Penn remarked at one point, “The Academy have exercised really extraordinary cowardice… limiting the imagination and different cultural expressions,” according to VT.
In a different interview, he stated: “I don’t get very excited about what we’ll call the Academy Awards.
He has expressed skepticism regarding the significance of awards in evaluating artistic work, stating, “Ceremonies like the Oscars should primarily be viewed as television events rather than indicators of artistic quality.”
In 2023, Penn mentioned to Variety that he might even contemplate melting down his Oscar trophies to aid relief efforts in Ukraine.
“I’ll donate them to Ukraine. They could be melted down into bullets to use against the Russians,” he remarked about the possibility of giving one of his Oscar statuettes to Zelenskyy at that time.
Penn had previously visited Ukraine while co-directing the 2023 documentary Superpower, where he went to the country to delve into the career path of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
This year’s Academy Award marks his first Oscar in the best supporting actor category. He had earlier won best actor for his roles in Mystic River and Milk, attending both of those Oscar ceremonies.
Penn has now become a member of an exclusive group of three-time Oscar winners for acting, which includes Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Ingrid Bergman, Frances McDormand, and Walter Brennan.
Katharine Hepburn continues to hold the record for the highest number of acting Oscars, having won four times throughout her career for Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Lion in Winter, and On Golden Pond.
At this year’s Academy Awards, One Battle After Another took home the awards for best picture and best director as part of a remarkable six-award sweep. The film also secured wins for best editing, best adapted screenplay, and the inaugural Oscar for best casting.
Leonardo DiCaprio received a nomination for Best Actor for the same film, where he starred alongside Sean Penn, but ultimately lost to Michael B. Jordan, who won Best Actor for Sinners.
