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Sean Penn is getting dragged online—and rightly so.
Two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn made headlines last week for making a seriously controversial—and delusional—statement about gender.
The American actor made a comment during an interview, saying he believes American men have become "feminized" due to "cowardly genes."
The 61-year-old argued these "cowardly genes" led men to becoming feminized into "wearing skirts" and male society needs to engage in more overt masculinity to avoid "becoming women."
He said:
“I am in the club that believes that men in American culture have become wildly feminized…I don’t think that [in order] to be fair to women, we should become them.”
After being called out for engaging in and perpetuating toxic masculinity culture, Penn attempted to clarify his controversial stance in a follow-up interview with The Independent.
Unfortunately, however, Penn ended up sticking his foot further in his mouth.
He said:
“I think that men have, in my view, become quite feminized."
“I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them.”
“There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt.”
The journalist, who was interviewing Penn as well as his daughter, Dylan Penn, commented he noticed Dylan became quiet and began staring into space as her father went on his toxic tirade.
In fact, The Independent itself was quick to criticize Penn's bad take.
The Independent's Leonie Cooper wrote:
"Penn's latest comments are problematic in a whole host of ways."
Cooper went on to point out this was Penn's "latest misfire" which exemplified "old-school misogyny."
Many fans were quick to point out Penn's hypocrisy as the actor who played gay politician Harvey Milk in the Academy Award-winning biopic Milk.
Twitter users are fuming over Penn's heteronormative and phobic comments.
Does Sean Penn need to get his ass kicked by a guy in a skirt? It sounds like Sean Penn needs to get his ass kicked by a guy in a skirt.https://twitter.com/variety/status/1487151384801599492\u00a0\u2026— Comedian Of Cinema (@Comedian Of Cinema) 1643401017
I feel sorry for Sean Penn. He won an Oscar for playing one of the most iconic queer leaders in American history, and yet, even the preparation he did for that role failed to liberate him from the prison of his own gendered insecurity. Being Sean Penn is punishment in itself.— Charlotte Clymer \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@Charlotte Clymer \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1643408571
Sean Penn, who won an Oscar for playing a gay civil rights icon, is out there being homophobic. When LGBTQ+ people express reluctance to straight actors playing queer roles, this is exactly the kind of shit we're talking abouthttps://variety.com/2022/film/news/sean-penn-criticizes-men-feminized-1235166106/\u00a0\u2026— Resting Intense Face (R.I.F.) (@Resting Intense Face (R.I.F.)) 1643403640
What I find interesting about Sean Penn\u2019s thoughts on gender is nothing.— Daniel Summers, MD (@Daniel Summers, MD) 1643417813
apart from every other stupid thing about this, the idea that a guy putting on jeans and going out in public takes more bravery than putting on a skirt and going out in public seems... not related to the shared reality we collectively inhabit— i just think they're NEET (@i just think they're NEET) 1643399888
Cool Sean, try leaving LA and walking around publicly in most places in the country as a man wearing a skirt, maybe hit up a red state football game or some trucker bars, then get back to me on whether you think it takes cowardice or bravery.— Rob Sheridan (@Rob Sheridan) 1643412319
"Feminized equals cowardly," declares the most insufferable actor of his generation.— Anthony DeVito (@Anthony DeVito) 1643406080
I simply think society has evolved past the need for opinions on masculinity from famously violent menhttps://twitter.com/Variety/status/1487151384801599492\u00a0\u2026— Claire Willett (@Claire Willett) 1643421101
Embracing one's own femininity is one of the bravest and most dangerous things someone assigned male can do\n\nas opposed to voicing support for the transmisogynistic status quo which is about the easiest and safest thing anyone can dohttps://twitter.com/Variety/status/1487151384801599492\u00a0\u2026— Amelia Is Dipping Her Toe Back In (@Amelia Is Dipping Her Toe Back In) 1643524272
They let him play Harvey Milkhttps://twitter.com/variety/status/1487151384801599492\u00a0\u2026— jaya sundaresh (@jaya sundaresh) 1643519641
Says the wife beater who won an Oscar for playing Harvey Milk. Can we revoke that award?https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1487151384801599492\u00a0\u2026— Ronaldo Trancoso Jr (@Ronaldo Trancoso Jr) 1643456067
It's fabric bro. Literally fabric. It's not inherently feminine or masculine it is just fabric.https://twitter.com/variety/status/1487151384801599492\u00a0\u2026— Kathryn Ivey (@Kathryn Ivey) 1643494136
What Sean Penn is expressing- an apparent aversion to anyone/anything that defies gender norms- is at the core of homophobia, and it is something that Harvey Milk (who famously called himself a queen) would vehemently oppose. I know what I'm talking about.https://twitter.com/AdamantxYves/status/1487180467921113089\u00a0\u2026— Yves' Pinned Tweet (@Yves' Pinned Tweet) 1643467051
As a reminder, Sean Penn has a history of alleged domestic abuse and also said the goal of the #MeToo movement was "to divide men and women."https://twitter.com/Variety/status/1487151384801599492\u00a0\u2026— Brandon Katz \u2615\ufe0f (@Brandon Katz \u2615\ufe0f) 1643400781
This is, unfortunately, just the latest in a long line of bad takes from Penn, who also criticized the #MeToo movement calling out sexual assault and violence for creating a "divide between men and women."