Sean Penn is still hung up on the Will Smith Oscars slap and says he went to jail in the '80s for doing the same thing
- Sean Penn is still hung up over the Will Smith Oscars slap from last year.
- "Why are you guys standing and applauding his worst moment as a person?" Penn told Variety.
It's been over a year since Will Smith's Oscars slap, and Sean Penn still isn't over it.
In an interview with Variety published on Wednesday, the 63-year-old actor called out Smith for slapping Chris Rock over a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Not long after he stormed the stage, Smith even won Best Actor for his role in "King Richard," a biopic about Venus and Serena Williams, and their father.
"I don't know Will Smith. I met him once," Penn told Variety. He went on to praise Smith for his performance in "King Richard," before questioning why he hadn't been sent to jail for what he did.
"Why did I go to fucking jail for what you just did? And you're still sitting there?" the actor said. "Why are you guys standing and applauding his worst moment as a person?"
In June 1987, Penn was sentenced to 60 days in county jail for punching an extra on a movie set and for reckless driving, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The actor, who's known for his temper, has had frequent run-ins with the law for his violent outbursts.
In October 1985, Penn received a 90-day suspended sentence and a $50 fine on each of two charges for assaulting two journalists who tried to photograph him and Madonna outside of a hotel, the LA Times reported.
In May 2010, he was sentenced to three years of probation and 300 hours of community service over an altercation with a photographer the year before, per the LA Times.
In relation to the slapping incident, Penn also expressed his disappointment over the Academy's refusal to let Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speak at the 2022 Oscars, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.
"The Oscars producer thought, 'Oh, he's not light-hearted enough.' Well, guess what you got instead? Will Smith!" Penn told Variety.