Sean Penn said COVID-19 shots should be mandatory, saying being unvaccinated was like 'pointing a gun in somebody's face'

• Sean Penn said he believes COVID-19 vaccines should be mandatory.
• He said they should be required "like turning your headlights on in a car at night."
• And he said not being vaccinated is like going "around pointing a gun in somebody's face."

Sean Penn said coronavirus vaccines should be mandatory, comparing being unvaccinated to "pointing a gun in somebody's face."

The actor was speaking to CNN's Michael Smerconish on Saturday about leaving the set of his film "Gaslit" because not all cast and crew members were required to be vaccinated.

"Actors are protected, but if a stagehand is working alongside a stagehand who is not protected then they can get sick," he said.

"I didn't want to feel complicit in something that was just taking care of one group and not the other."

"And I do believe that everyone should get vaccinated," he said.

"I believe it should be mandatory, like turning your headlights on in a car at night, but obviously that's not going to happen tomorrow and yet - at least it can happen in some areas and businesses, a lot of businesses are starting to take the lead on that."

He said he would return to "Gaslit" when "I can be assured that 100 percent of the crew has gotten vaccinated."

He also compared being unvaccinated to pointing a gun at somebody.

"With something like this, you can't go around pointing a gun in somebody's face - which is what it is when people are unvaccinated."