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Sean Penn: Celebrity Is Obscene Disease

Turning away from stardom 'common sense,' says actor

By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 23, 2012 11:35 PM CST | Updated Jan 24, 2012 12:02 AM CST

(Newser) – Bad boy Sean Penn is at it again. The eternally angry actor is blasting celebrity as an "obscene disease." "I don't think it's an overstatement to say that it's an obscene disease of celebrity that's taken over far too much of the life we live. I think it's a disease that's diminished the quality of life," Penn told the Huffington Post in an interview plugging his latest movie. "It's clearly something that I've been compromised by. But for the culture at large, there is this kind of herd commitment. I think it's just become cheap."

Penn is starring in This Must Be the Place, which premiered over the weekend in the US at the Sundance Film Festival. It's a film about a pop icon who turns his back on fame to live quietly in Ireland. "Turning one's back on stardom might be the highest form of common sense—one that I would aspire to be more complete with," Penn said. He plans to continue to act, however, and command the big bucks to help raise money for Haitian relief.

Actor Sean Penn arrives at the Cinema for Peace benefit for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization in Beverly Hills, Calif., earlier this month.
Actor Sean Penn arrives at the Cinema for Peace benefit for the J/P Haitian Relief Organization in Beverly Hills, Calif., earlier this month.   (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)
Sean Penn poses at the US premiere of the film 'This Must Be the Place' at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, over the weekend.
Sean Penn poses at the US premiere of the film 'This Must Be the Place' at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, over the weekend.   (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 50 comments
George-Jetson
Jan 24, 2012 5:22 PM CST
He's worth $150m and he's complaining?
JoeQ
Jan 24, 2012 10:30 AM CST
Thorstein Veblen covers the "celebrity class" in his book Theory of the Leisure Class (1899).  The growth of mass media in the 1800s put lots of wealthy folk under a microscope, which they did not like at all.  They developed "celebrities" from the entertainment industry to take the media focus off themselves, and then got the media to follow those folk instead.
carson
Jan 24, 2012 5:56 AM CST
sean should know...he is severely devastated by its ravages...i admire him for what he wants to do in haiti...but while he is "raising the big bucks" he should consider emptying his checking account to the same level mine will be after my contribution to his cause...keeping in mind that he can make another million if he gets desperate...thats a cold way to feel but i grow tired of celebrities lending merely their voice to causes while they shoulder a bag of rice they could afford to pay ten people to carry 
 

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