The 2015 Academy Awards was filled with interesting stories and uplifting speeches from calls to action for ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and Alzheimer’s diseases, racism, civil rights movement to raising the subject of sexism equal pay for women on the filming business. On the other hand, Sean Penn‘s comment, right before announcing the winner of the “Best Picture Award”, was probably one of the moments that we will want to forget soon. As the actor prepared to announce “Birdman” as the film of the year, he made a reference to Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s (Mexican director of the film) immigration status: “Who gave this son of a bitch his green card?”
Although, Sean Penn is a well-known activist and supporter of numerous social causes, Twitter users immediately denounced what the actor likely thought was a joke with most of them commenting that it was rather xenophobic or an inappropriate reference to the sensitive matter of the plight of thousands of immigrants in the United States. Despite the fact that Alejandro González Iñárritu himself responded to Sean Penn’s remark, saying that “it was just a harmless joke among good friends,” social media fans still deemed the remark offensive.
Check out some of the Tweets below:
“Who gave this guy a green card?” Sean Penn talking about a Mexican dude to a room full of British & Australian people…
— Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) February 23, 2015
I’d like to wake up to an apology from Sean Penn-1 that’s accompanied by a VERY LARGE donation to an immigrant legal aid fund #oscarssowhite
— Nina Terrero (@Nina_Terrero) February 23, 2015
And yet nobody asked Eddie Redmayne who gave him his green card…#Iñarritu #Oscars2015
— Mariana_Atencio (@marianaatencio) February 23, 2015
“Who gave this guy a green card?” Sean Penn talking about a Mexican dude to a room full of British & Australian people…
— Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) February 23, 2015
And great job Sean Penn. Ruining a fantastic moment with a green card “joke.” #Tacky
— Mario Lopez (@MarioLopezExtra) February 23, 2015
