Sean Penn criticises #MeToo movement: 'I know some lies have been told. I'm talking about women towards men'
The actor suggested it was filled with ‘self-aggrandisement and venting’
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Your support makes all the difference.Sean Penn has criticised the #MeToo movement stating the belief that it was “led by mania”.
The Oscar-winning actor, referencing the social media demonstration which supported victims of sexual harassment in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, told The Guardian Weekend magazine he didn’t feel the movement to be “intellectually honest”.
“I don’t ever want to be in a movement. I don’t trust any movement,” he said, adding: “The anti-war movement did not sustain,” Penn said. “We’re back in wars.”
He added that #MeToo was filled with “self-aggrandisement and venting” before leaping to the defence of US newsreader Charlie Rose who was fired from CBS show This Morning last year after being accused of misconduct in the workplace.
“He says one thing happened; other people said another thing happened,” Penn said. “I wasn’t there. What I do think is we maybe should be very careful; for example, are we now going to say we will never celebrate Thomas Jefferson again: slaveholder, that’s all you are?”
Penn continued: “Charlie Rose provided one of the only sophisticated dialogue programmes, and I don’t know what the percentages are, but I know that there are some lies that have been told publicly about people; I know of some serious omissions. I’m talking about women towards men.”
In 2016, the actor won a court battle which saw him receive a public apology from film director Lee Daniels who had earlier implied Penn was guilty of domestic violence.
Penn, star of such films as Milk, Mystic River and I Am Sam, recently published his first novel titled Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff which was torn to pieces by critics.
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