The shooting death of Charlie Kirk was “different” than that of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and of Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Sean Penn said in an interview with the New York Times published Saturday.
“I think we need that guy. We need that debate,” he added.
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Penn was asked about Kirk’s death because it occurred only days before he sat down with the Times. The actor thoughtfully laid out a response that measured what it means to be a “human on Earth” before he addressed the topic directly.
“First of all, just as a human on Earth, it’s fair to say I’m processing what happened. I’ve increasingly lost any kind of understanding about why we have as a country become so compliant with the public-facing polarization, when any of us who talk to each other understand that while there’s this incredible partisanship that is expressed in the power-hustling of politics and media, it isn’t the case with individuals,” Penn began.
“I’m getting to Charlie Kirk. These fashions of violence; this one seems different. It seems different than the members of Congress. It seems different than the insurance executive. It seems even different than the attempt on the president. There’s something about this one.”
Though Penn also said he didn’t follow Kirk’s work, he said he suspected the conservative podcaster was “one of these people who certainly I disagree with on almost everything.”
“I didn’t get the sense that he was one of these snake oil salesmen. I think we need that guy. We need that debate,” he continued. “We’ve gotta fight it out and find a compromise. These things do come into fashion, and the way we kill the fashion of it is people of conscience on both sides recognizing that if somebody really believes something, that’s your friend.”
After Penn was asked whether his answer depends on what someone believes, he clarified: “ I’m not talking about some sociopathic Nazism. I’m talking about if somebody believes that a human being starts at conception, if you can’t understand that concept, you’re just stupid. And if you’re not willing to tolerate the concept as a concept that’s held as deeply as I may have a belief that, I don’t know, let the woman decide. All of these are valid opinions. What’s the consensus in society, civilly? This murderer who shot the insurance executive? I’m no fan of health insurance companies, but Jesus, man, is that the best argument you got?”
Read the interview with Sean Penn at the New York Times.
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