Actor and director Sean Penn recently told unvaccinated people to not go to movie theaters while appearing at the premiere for his latest film Flag Day.
The Hollywood Reporter (THR) notes Penn appeared at the Directors Guild of America with his costars Dylan Penn and Katheryn Winnick.
The event required attendees to not only provide proof of vaccination, but attendees were also instructed to wear masks based on the L.A. County Department of Public Health guidelines.
While on the red carpet before the event, Penn told THR, “Here I am promoting a movie that’s going to be, thanks to MGM, showing for an exclusive period of time in cinemas.”
He then told unvaccinated people to not go to theaters, “But I have to say that I do request people who are not vaccinated, don’t go to the cinemas.”
“Stay home until you are convinced of these very clearly safe vaccines. We’ve normalized this notion of radical libertarianism and it really is a violation of the idea of interconnectedness.”
“Independence cannot live without interdependence, and that’s what vaccines are. Vaccines are a great movement of interdependence,” he asserted.
Penn would also state on the red carpet, “I hope that audiences are drawn to it. Specifically, I hope that vaccinated audiences are drawn to it. Of course we all want people to come see our movies, but we are in a time and place today where I hope people will take caution and do that.”
Penn not only stars in Flag Day, but he also directed the film based off a screenplay by Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. The film is based off Jennifer Vogel’s memoir Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father’s Counterfeit Life.
Alongside Dylan Penn and Winnick, the film also stars Josh Brolin, Norbert Leo Butz, Dale Dickey, Eddie Marsan, Baily Noble, and Hopper Jack Penn.
The film’s official description reads, “Jennifer Vogel’s father John was larger than life. As a child, Jennifer marveled at his magnetizing energy and ability to make life feel like a grand adventure. He taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history.”
“Based on a true story and directed by Sean Penn, Flag Day stars Penn and his real-life daughter Dylan Penn in an intimate family portrait about a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of her past while reconciling the inescapable bond between a daughter and her father,” it concludes.
The movie arrives in theaters on August 20th.
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What do you make of Penn’s comments?