Even some of the most left-leaning Hollywood stars — Conan O’Brien and Sean Penn — are coming out against cancel culture.
In the July 5 episode of O’Brien’s podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend,” the retired late-night show host condemned cancel culture as “very Soviet.”
“Empathy is a very important word and also forgiveness,” argued O’Brien, who asked Penn his thoughts on the push to destroy people’s careers over their bygone mistakes. “We found that someone did something in 1979 that is now not appropriate. They’re dead to us.”
“What happened to ‘let’s talk about that now?’” he added. “People can also be forgiven if they even need to be forgiven. It feels very Soviet sometimes.”
Penn piped in, labeling the phenomenon “ludicrous.”
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The “Mystic River” actor then referred to 27-year-old journalist Alexi McCammond, who was ousted from her role as editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue in March over anti-Asian tweets she posted as a teenager.
“When we’re destroying careers like that, what are we really achieving?” he asked. “Or you look at politicians — I give a big nod to anyone that’s willing to enter the public arena who is doing so because they give a [expletive].”
During the podcast, O’Brien praised Penn for his portrayal of the late LGBT activist Harvey Milk in the 2008 film “Milk.”
Penn, though, pointed out that — in today’s culture — he wouldn’t be permitted to play the role.
“Today, almost certainly, I would not be permitted to be cast in that role,” he said. “We’re living in a time when, if you’re playing a gay lead character, you’d have to be a gay man, or a trans character. And there have been these casting issues.”
“When you have a period of evolution that certainly has an opportunity for people who have had less opportunities to move forward,” Penn continued. “That has to be supported, and yet, in this pendulum swing society that we’re in, you wonder at some point if only Danish Princes can play Hamlet. It is, I believe, too restrictive. People are looking for gotcha moments and to criticize.”
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