Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Will Sean Penn Give President Zelensky His New Oscar? Three Time Winner Ditched Awards to Visit Ukraine Over Weekend

Share

Sean Penn skipped the Oscars to go see Vladomyr Zelensky, president of the Ukraine.

Initially no one knew where he was. Accepting Penn’s third Oscar on his behalf last night, Kieran Culkin said, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here, or didn’t want to be here.”

Penn gave Zelensky one of his two Oscar statues back in 2022 as a sign of support for Ukraine in their war with Russia.

He must really like the former comedian, because he chose to spend Oscar night with him.

Will he donate the new Oscar, too? And why not? Ukraine needs all the help it can get, and support from the West raises awareness.

Zelensky wrote on social media:” 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. And we know that you will continue to stand with our country and our people.”

Penn, by the way, joins a handful of actors who’ve won three Oscars including Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis, Cate Blanchett, and Jack Nicholson.

Donate to Showbiz411.com

Showbiz411 is now in its 13th year of providing breaking and exclusive entertainment news. This is an independent site, unlike the many Hollywood trades that are owned by one company. To continue providing news that takes a fresh look at what's going on in movies, music, theater, etc, advertising is our basis. Reader donations would be greatly appreciated, too. They are just another facet of keeping fact based journalism alive.
Thank you


Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

Read more

In Other News