Sean Penn is refusing to apologise for a controversial Oscars joke in which he joked about Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s immigrant status.
While presenting his friend with the prize for best picture last month, the actor and leftwing activist asked: “Who gave this son of a bitch his green card?” Iñárritu reportedly found the comment “hilarious”, but some critics took to Twitter to voice their disgruntlement.
Over the weekend, Penn told the Associated Press he was frustrated with those who found his words to be in poor taste.
“I’m always surprised by flagrant stupidity. I keep having more hope,” he said. “I have absolutely no apologies. In fact, I have a big fuck you for … anybody who is so stupid not to have gotten the irony when you’ve got a country that is so xenophobic. If they had their way, you wouldn’t have great filmmakers like Alejandro working in this country. Thank God we do.
“There’s a little inside humour with he and I,” said Penn, who worked with Iñárritu on the 2003 film 21 Grams. “[I knew] that he would be the first person in that room to know that his film won.”
In other Oscars news it appears that Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who produced the last three editions of the world’s best known film ceremony, will not return for a fourth stint. “Hoping that whoever produces the #Oscars next year will retain our innovations,” wrote Zadan on Twitter.
