Sean Penn Pledges to Publicly ‘Smelt’ His Oscar If Academy Awards Decides Against Inviting Zelensky to Speak

Actor Sean Penn pledged to “smelt” his Oscar in public, should the organizers of the Academy Awards opt not to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak virtually.

“There is nothing greater that the Academy Awards could do than to give him that opportunity to talk to all of us,” Penn told CNN’s Jim Acosta on Saturday.

Penn’s comments come after co-host Amy Schumer revealed she pitched the idea of Zelensky making a video appearance.

“There are so many awful things happening that it seems hard to focus on which one,” Schumer said. “I actually pitched…a way to have Zelensky satellite in or make a tape or something just because there are so many eyes on the Oscars. I am not afraid to go there, but it’s not me producing the Oscars.”

According to a New York Post report from Friday, Zelensky has been in talks about a possible video appearance, though the idea is still being debated and it’s unclear whether he would appear via a taped message or live.

Penn, who has been working on a documentary about Russia’s invasion, has met with Zelensky multiple times and earlier in the interview called him a “courageous” and “extraordinary” leader.

Asked by Acosta about Zelensky being regarded as a hero by some, Penn replied, “What I would say is I can’t imagine any human being would have fully known that they were born for this moment until this moment would have happened.”

He said he recognized sometimes there’s “validity” in the argument that “politics are for another place, entertainment is for another,” but in this case, Zelensky should be invited.

“It is my understanding that a decision has been made not to do it,” Penn said. “That is not me commenting on whether or not President Zelensky had wanted to.”

“If the Academy has elected not to do it, if presenters have elected not to pursue the leadership in Ukraine who are taking bullets and bombs for us along with the Ukrainian children that they are trying to protect, then I think every single one of those people and every bit of that decision will have been the most obscene moment in all of Hollywood history,” Penn said.

“And I hope it is not what is happening,” he said, adding that if that is what is happening, the industry should protest and “boycott that Academy Awards.”

“I myself, if it comes back to it, when I return, I will smelt mine in public,” Penn said of his award. “I pray that is not what happened. I pray that there have not been arrogant people who consider themselves representatives of the greater good in my industry, that have not decided to check in with leadership in Ukraine.”

“So I’m just going to hope that that’s not what has happened and I hope that everybody walks out if it is,” he concluded.

Watch above, via CNN