Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Hey Sean, Put Down Your Pen

Adoration of Cuban dictator is misguided, dangerous

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Jan 5, 2009 10:36 AM CST

(Newser) – Sean Penn may be “the finest character actor around,” but he's “no journalist,” writes Roger Cohen in the New York Times. Penn’s recent “fawning tributes” to Cuban president Raúl Castro show the actor has “delusional, dangerous” beliefs about the dictator—a fact that “Penn as Harvey Milk gets,” while “Penn the foreign correspondent flails.”

It’s hard to believe Penn, who gave a “breathtaking, powerful” performance as gay rights activist Milk, would be taken in by “a dictator presiding over a 50-year-old revolution that once dispatched gays to labor camps to correct their ‘counterrevolutionary tendencies.’” The actor doesn’t seem to grasp that Milk “is precisely about the sort of grass-roots political movement that would be impossible in the Cuba of the Castro brothers.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (4)]

Sean Penn speaks on stage during the 18th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on December 2, 2008 in New York City. (Getty Images)

Sean Penn attends a special screening of "Milk" hosted by the Cinema Society and Details at Landmark Sunshine Theater on November 18, 2008 in New York City. (Getty Images)

In this image released by Focus Features, Sean Penn portrays gay rights activist Harvey Milk, left, and Victor Garber portrays San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in a scene from "Milk." (AP Photo/Focus Features, Phil Bray)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

A gift for detachment is as important to the journalist as a gift for empathy is to the actor. Penn has only the latter. - Roger Cohen

Penn’s not the first leftist star seduced by revolution despite dictatorship. - Roger Cohen

Sean, truth is as elusive for a journalist as it is for an actor. It takes work. You should never have written that this was Raúl’s ‘first ever interview to a foreign journalist’ in 50 years. You’re no journalist. - Roger Cohen

The Bush years have taught us the dangers of amateurism and the preciousness of freedom. Your journalism flouts those lessons even as your brilliant acting illuminates them. - Roger Cohen, to Sean Penn

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

AP Photo

35 Brutally Honest Reasons Men Say No to Sex (The Stir)

Which Entertainer Pulled Out of 'Inappropriate' Whitney Tribute? (NewsOne)

The French Government Wants to Tone My Vagina (Slate)

Obama Photo on Facebook Helps Catch Drug Dealer (HuffPost)

Hottest Women to Ever Appear in the SI Swimsuit Issue (Bleacher Report)

Partner Links

A snapshot of the day's best news stories.

View Larger Grid

All Today Yesterday Pick a Date

COMMENTS

Read the comment policy

Showing 3 of 4 comments

cochiserocks

Aug 9, 2009 5:13 AM CDT

I like Penn's acting and directing. It's just a shame that his naive and romantic Hollywood view on politics is taken seriously enough to be published. Stick to fantasy land Sean. I wouldn't ask a wedding photographer to give me his views on economics and if he does, I wouldn't publish them, and if they did - I wouldn't take it seriously.

Shannonals

Jan 8, 2009 3:27 AM CST

CK, your an ignorant man. You make people like Sean Penn seem intelligent

riffran

Jan 6, 2009 4:35 AM CST

well I will be happy to say I don't have any "Milk" money...lol....Sean Penn is a a wannabe, and he is so liberal/socialist oriented that he is out of touch with most of society, except maybe for Berkely Ca., the dixie chicks, and good ole Hanoi Jane Fonda, and Streisand....in addition to that his acting aint all that great...."Hey Spiccoli".....riff

What's Popular Now on Facebook

Rick Santorum: Birth Control Is 'Not OK'

Valentine's Day Role-Playing Goes Very Wrong

New York Times (Source Grid »)

Read Penn's article in The Nation
The Nation

Read Penn's article on the Huffington Post
Huffington Post

New Yorker: Penn is no foreign correspondent
New Yorker

Fidel Castro • Cuba • lefties • dictatorship • Raul Castro • Communism • Sean Penn • Roger Cohen

More Newser Stories

Fidel Emerges to Promote New Memoir

Castro, the former Cuban leader, talks up 1,000-page tome

(AP) - Fidel Castro spent six hours presenting a two-volume memoir to an audience at a Havana convention center, state media said today. It was a rare appearance for the retired and increasingly reclusive former Cuban leader. Images on state television showed a smiling, animated Castro wearing a dark track suit over a blue plaid button-up shirt. Audio of him was not broadcast, but Communist Party newspaper Granma said he told attendees yesterday that they would hear about "two books that you haven't had any news of." More»

Cuba to Free 2,900 Prisoners

But American Alan Gross not among those to be released

(NEWSER) - With a nod to Pope Benedict's upcoming visit to the country, President Raul Castro yesterday announced that Cuba would pardon 2,900 prisoners, a group that includes some convicted of political crimes, many inmates over the age of 60, and a number of women. He referred to the act as "a demonstration of the generosity and strength of the revolution," and noted that 86 foreign prisoners hailing from 25 countries would also be freed. That group does not include Alan Gross , however. The AP reports that the American government subcontractor's supporters had been pleading with Cuban authorities to release the 62-year-old Maryland native. More»

As Cuba Opens Up, Castro Hits Corruption

Free market reforms require crackdown, say Cuba officials

(NEWSER) - Cuba is in the midst of one of its biggest anti-corruption crackdowns in years, with Raul Castro jailing foreigners and kicking out scores of small companies even as he institutes free market reforms. But many are wondering if the crackdown will cure or kill the patient, reports the AP . "It's like an earthquake," said one non-Cuban business consultant. "It is a time of opportunity, but also great risk because of what is happening: the arrests, the closures." More»

Poor Cubans Eye Gold Rush as Car Market Opens

Waiter earning $15 a month can sell 30-year-old Moskvich for $5K

(NEWSER) - Now that Cuba is allowing people to buy and sell cars , classic automobiles are going up for sale—creating a bubble that allows the wealthy to buy them, and poverty-stricken sellers to suddenly strike it rich, the New York Times reports. One waiter who earns $15 a month is looking forward to selling his decrepit, 30-year-old Moskvich for at least $5,500. “This car has been bleeding me dry,” he says. “Now it’s an asset that I can sell, and do something else with the money.” More»

Cuba Allows Citizens to Buy, Sell Homes

But only within certain stringent limits

(NEWSER) - Cuba is taking another baby step toward capitalism, making it legal, for the first time in more than 50 years, for citizens and residents to buy and sell homes, a state-run newspaper announced today. It’s the latest and, according to a BBC correspondent, most significant in a string of free market reforms under Raul Castro. Of course, Cubans have effectively been selling homes for years, Reuters notes; they could legally swap homes, and money would pass under the table if one was larger. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Hey Sean, Put Down Your Pen