Conan O’Brien and Sean Penn Bash Cancel Culture: ‘It’s Ludicrous… It Feels Very Soviet’

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Conan O’Brien and Sean Penn are united in their disdain for cancel culture.

On the latest episode of the talk show host’s podcast, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, the pair agreed that the trend of vilifying people over past mistakes needs to end.

“Empathy is a very important word and also forgiveness,” O’Brien said. “This whole concept of cancel culture is… We found that someone did something in 1979 that is now not appropriate. They’re dead to us.”

Penn jumped in and agreed that the concept is “ludicrous.”

O’Brien continued, “People can also be forgiven. If they even need forgiving. What happened to that? It feels very Soviet, kind of, sometimes.”

Penn went on to reference Alexi McCammond, the 27-year-old reporter who was ousted as editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue in March after anti-Asian tweets she had posted as a teenager resurfaced.

“When we’re destroying careers like that, what are we really achieving? What are we doing?” the actor asked. “Or you look at politicians. I give a big nod to anybody who’s willing to enter the public arena who is doing so because they give a damn.”

O’Brien and Penn are among a handful of celebrities to denounce cancel culture in recent months.

In June, Kevin Hart told the British Sunday Times that he doesn’t “give a shit about” cancel culture, saying he had personally been “canceled” on “three or four” occasions.

Matthew McConaughey condemned cancel culture during an interview on Good Morning Britain last year, saying that delegitimizing opposing views is  “unconstitutional.”

During a podcast interview last year, Ricky Gervais bemoaned the way Twitter backlash results in people losing their careers over jokes.

Seth Rogen, however, offered a contrarian opinion in May, telling Good Morning Britain that comedians should stop complaining about cancel culture and accept when a joke has “aged terribly.”