Sean Penn was a no-show Sunday night at the 98th Academy Awards, where he won the best supporting actor Oscar for his performance in One Battle After Another.
Now we know why the actor skipped the ceremony. Penn was on his way to Ukraine for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported on Monday, March 16.
An AFP photographer snapped pictures of the actor earlier today in central Kyiv.
The Oscar winner was casually dressed in a black hoodie. He wore sunglasses, was said to be carrying a box of cigarettes, and appeared to have something important on his mind.
A senior Ukrainian government official told AFP the actor traveled abroad “to support” the war-torn country.
“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,” the official told the outlet. “He just wants to support Ukraine.”
Zelensky posted a picture of a meeting with Penn on social media Monday and included the caption: “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.”
While Penn was on his unofficial diplomatic mission, he passed on the chance to collect his third career Oscar.
Last year’s supporting actor winner Kieran Culkin presented the award and joked: “Sean Penn couldn’t be here, or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”
The audience in the Dolby Theatre got a good laugh out of the comment.
Penn previously won best actor Oscars for his roles in Milk (2008), about LGBTQ activist Harvey Milk; and in the Clint Eastwood-directed psychological thriller Mystic River (2003).
Penn is a longtime supporter of Ukraine and co-directed the 2023 documentary Superpower, about Russia’s invasion of the country.
The actor famously told Variety in 2023 that awards don’t mean a lot to him. “I’ll give them to Ukraine,” he said about his Oscars.
“They can be melted down to bullets they can shoot at the Russians,” he said.
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