Sometimes showbiz takes a back seat to more important priorities.
Instead of accepting an Oscar on Sunday night, actor Sean Penn decided to visit a war zone. Fellow actor Kieran Culkin told viewers that Penn probably “didn’t want to” be at the Oscars while accepting the award for his role in One Battle After Another, his third Oscar in total. After presenting the award, Culkin said, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening — or didn’t want to, so I’ll be accepting the award on his behalf.”
It appeared that Penn preferred to spend his time in Ukraine with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, with the president sharing a photo of his meeting with the 65-year-old. “Sean, thanks to you, we know what a true friend of Ukraine is. You have stood with Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale war. This is still true today,” Zelenskiy wrote on X. “And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people,” he added, along with a photo of himself and Penn from inside the presidential office.
Meanwhile, Ben Stiller chose to skip Oscar night for much more relatable reasons. On Sunday afternoon, Stiller responded to a picture from the 2025 Oscars that asked, “Does he know the Knicks,” referring to the NBA’s New York Knicks. The noted basketball fan replied, “This year I’ll be at the right place.” Lo and behold, Stiller was pictured courtside at Madison Square Garden in an official team photo that stated, “[Ben Stiller] knows where to be.”
Both Stiller and Penn are outspoken liberals, making their absence from the Oscars stage — a dependable platform for leftist political messaging — all the more notable. Recently, Stiller asked the Trump administration to remove a clip of his film Tropic Thunder from one of the White House’s highly divisive hype videos, stating, “We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie.” Stiller has consistently posted jabs at the administration on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s public praise for Sean Penn as a “true friend” during Ukraine’s ongoing conflict has been condemned as an inappropriate distraction from the nation’s critical military realities, undermining efforts to secure essential aid and support.
