Sean Penn: My El Chapo Article 'Failed'

He has one 'terrible regret' in particular about 'Rolling Stone' interview
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 15, 2016 10:11 AM CST
Sean Penn: My El Chapo Article 'Failed'
In this Oct. 8, 2015, file photo, Sean Penn speaks during a forum with young entrepreneurs during the IMF and World Bank annual meeting in Lima, Peru.   (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

While Sean Penn might not think his interview for Rolling Stone with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was rife with "stupidities," the actor now concedes he has "a terrible regret" about it—and he thinks the article ultimately "failed," CBS News reports. In a Santa Monica, Calif., sit-down with Charlie Rose Thursday for an interview to air on Sunday's 60 Minutes, Penn explained that he thought his interview would spur "a conversation about the policy of the war on drugs," efforts he seems to think are squandered by going so hard after just one "bad guy." Enter that "terrible regret": "I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the War on Drugs," he told Rose.

"We all want this drug problem to stop. We all want … the killings in Chicago to stop." He then switches to third-person mode, noting, "Whether you agree with Sean Penn or not, there is a complicity there. And if you are in the moral right, or on the far left, just as many of your children are doing these drugs … And how much time have they spent in the last week since this article … talking about that? One percent? I think that'd be generous. … Let me be clear. My article has failed." Watch the full interview, which also touches on the "green-eyed monsters [meaning journalists jealous of his scoop] who gonna come give you a kiss," Sunday at 7pm EST on CBS. (More Sean Penn stories.)

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