Published on •Updated
One notable absence at this year’s Oscars was Sean Penn, who wasn’t there to collect his Best Supporting Actor award for his scene-stealing turn in One Battle After Another.
Kieran Culkin, who won last year for A Real Pain, presented the honour. Once Penn was announced as the winner, he quipped: “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening – or didn’t want to – so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”
People were bemused and wondering why a performer would choose to skip the biggest night of awards season. Especially since this third Academy Award made Penn the fourth male actor to win three acting Oscars (joining Daniel Day-Lewis, Jack Nicholson, and Walter Brennan).
But it turns out there was a pretty good reason for being a no-show: Penn had a prior commitment in Ukraine.
“We can say that he’s in Ukraine, but it’s his personal visit; that’s how he sees it, that he needs to be in Ukraine,” a senior Ukrainian official told AFP, adding: “He just wants to support Ukraine.”
Penn arrived in Kyiv on 16 March, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – who posted online: “Sean, thanks to you, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is. You have stood with Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale war. This is still true today. And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people.”
Penn’s history of solidarity with Ukraine is well documented. He has visited the country multiple times since Russia launched its invasion in 2022.
In 2022, he described the country’s defence against the Russian invasion as “the tip of the spear for the democratic embrace of dreams,” adding, “If we allow it to fight alone, our soul as America is lost.”
That same year, the actor presented one of his Oscars to Zelenskyy, promising to leave it in Kyiv until Ukraine’s victory in the war. Ukraine awarded Penn the Order of Merit, third degree, in recognition of his support.
Penn also filmed the documentary Superpower about the war and Zelenskyy’s leadership, a film which premiered at the Berlinale in 2023.