Sean Penn Skipped Oscars Win Because He's in Ukraine

Sean Penn may have played a military zealot in One Battle After Another, but his real-world views on war are a bit different. In fact, instead of being on hand to receive the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role, Penn was reportedly once again visiting Ukraine. Penn’s Academy Awards win was one of six OBAA took home during Sunday’s ceremony, but the actor/activist opted to skip the ceremony. Kieran Culkin, who was presenting the award, said, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.” Now, two anonymous sources to the New York Times and an AFP report confirm that Penn wasn’t there because he was once again visiting war-torn Ukraine.”We can say that he’s in Ukraine, but it’s his personal visit; that’s how he sees it, that he needs to be in Ukraine… He just wants to support Ukraine,” a senior Ukrainian official told AFP. The official added that Penn is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while a second unnamed source said the actor is “planning to go to the front” in eastern Ukraine. Advertisement Related Video The NYT reached out to Penn’s representatives, but received no comment. Penn has been a vocal and active advocate for Ukraine ever since the start of the Russian invasion. He visited the country in 2022 to film the documentary Superpower, fleeing the country by walking to Poland once fighting broke out, and at one point saying he considered joining the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He’s since become close Zelenskyy, gifting him one of his two previous Oscar trophies during one visit, saying “When you win [the war], bring it back to Malibu, because I’ll feel much better knowing there’s a piece of me here.” It seems he’d rather have himself fully there instead of picking up a third Oscar statue. Penn also skipped the BAFTA and Actor’s Awards ceremonies, where he also won for One Battle After Another. He’s historically used such awards wins as platforms for his activism; accepting the 2004 Best Actor Oscar for Mystic River, he used his speech to take aim at the Bush administration and the Iraq War, saying, “If there’s one thing actors know, other than that there weren’t any WMDs, it’s that there’s no such thing as best in acting.” When he won again in 2009 for Milk, he spoke out for gay rights, opening his speech by playfully calling the Academy and audience” commie, homo-loving sons of guns” for giving him the award. Acknowledging “how hard I make it to appreciate me,” Penn said, “For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect, and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren’s eyes if they continue that way of support. We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone.” Advertisement Penn beat out his OBAA co-star Benicio Del Toro, Frakenstein’s Jacob Elordi, Sinners’ Delroy Lindo, and Sentimental Value’s Stellan Skarsgård in winning at this year’s ceremony. See the complete winners list and revisit everything that happened during the 2026 Academy Awards by checking out Consequence’s Oscars Live Blog. Load More