When did Sean Penn meet Castro and Hugo Chávez? Bill Maher calls out actor over Trump meeting hypocrisy

Sean Penn's tumultuous history of complicated political engagements resurfaced this week when he got into a heated argument with comedian and commentator Bill Maher.

During an appearance on Maher’s podcast, Club Random, the Oscar winner was challenged about why he wouldn’t sit down with president Donald Trump despite having had conversations with Latin American figures, including Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez.

Maher, who was criticized earlier this year when he attended a private dinner with Trump, arranged by Kid Rock, questioned Penn’s stance on speaking to controversial leaders. He asked Sean Penn,

"Really, you’ll meet with f***ing Castro and Hugo Chavez but not the president of the United States?"

Penn has indeed met with some of Latin America's most feared and revered political figures. As per CNN, he visited Venezuela repeatedly in the mid-2000s and struck up a friendship with Hugo Chávez. Following the death of the Venezuelan president in 2013, Penn went on to praise Chávez, calling him “a champion of the poor” and one of his personal friends.

"Today the people of the United States lost a friend it never knew it had. And poor people around the world lost a champion. I lost a friend I was blessed to have," he said at the time of Chávez's death.

Sean Penn’s connections with Cuba’s leaders are similarly intriguing. In 2008, he landed one of Cuban leader Raúl Castro’s first international media interviews for The Nation.

Years earlier, in 2005, Penn was granted an interview with former Cuban President Fidel Castro for Vanity Fair and flew to Cuba, getting covered by the state-run newspaper Granma. According to The Guardian, it is not known whether the interview with Fidel ever occurred.

More about Sean Penn's recent debate with Bill Maher

During the podcast, Maher stood up for his decision to attend the dinner with Trump, stating that personal experiences and meetings provide more information about public figures. He stressed that his opinion of the former president had not changed after the dinner and there was no endorsement involved.

"It was less successful because I never stopped saying all the things I’ve always said about him. It would have been successful if he had somehow seduced me into supporting him," Maher said.

Sean Penn, who did not directly condemn the meeting, hinted that Maher should have restrained himself when publicly discussing the encounter, suggesting his version made Donald Trump look better and more appealing to voters.

Even after Bill Maher prodded him, Penn maintained he was still uninterested in a meeting with Trump for several reasons, including mistrust and doubt that it would be productive. When Maher questioned him about meeting controversial leaders such as Hugo Chávez in the past, Penn had this to say:

"I, I, saw good results come out of some of those things... I would not fool myself that... I was going to get anywhere with him (Trump). I know that I wouldn’t, I know that I would have no influence."

The back-and-forth between the two was seen as part of a larger tension around political speech and endorsements in the media.

Trending

Follow SoapCentral for more updates.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback