Actor Sean Penn presented one of his Oscars for best actor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The 62-year-old actor, who won Best Actor Oscars in 2004 and 2009 for Mystic River and Milk, presented one of the statuettes to Zelensky in the capital, Kyiv, as a “symbolic” gesture to the politician and his people in Ukraine, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
In a video shared on the President’s Telegram channel, Sean told him, “It’s just symbolic stupidity, but knowing this is here will make me feel better and strong enough for the fights.” If you win, take it back to Malibu because I feel a lot better knowing there’s a part of me here.”
The trophy will remain in the country until the end of the ongoing war with Russia. In return, Penn was honored with the Order of Merit of Ukraine.
Zelenskyj said: “This is not from me, this is from Ukraine.” Penn added: “There are three places in the world where the pride of my life will be. The place where my daughter was born, the place where my son was born, and this.” The actor previously promised to “sniff out” his Oscar if the academy didn’t invite Zelenskyy to the 2022 Oscars, though to do so would have violated a rule prohibiting prize winners from selling or discarding the physical prize.
Penn said, “There’s nothing more the Oscars could do than give him the opportunity to speak to all of us. This is a man who understands film and has had his own very long and successful career in it.” He claimed, “As I understand it, a decision has been made not to do this. That is not my statement as to whether President Zelenskyy wanted this or not.”
