His award was accepted by Kieran Culkin, who joked about his absence on stage. Later, a photo from Ukraine confirmed Penn was meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the ceremony.
Image Source: X/@@ZelenskyyUa
Hollywood loves a dramatic win, but Sean Penn just flipped the script completely. While his name echoed inside the Dolby Theatre, the man himself was thousands of miles away, sitting across from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Yes, you read that right. He won an Oscar… and didn’t show up.
Penn picked up his third Oscar, this time for Best Supporting Actor, for playing Colonel Lockjaw in ‘One Battle After Another’. It was a major moment in his career. But when his name was announced, there was no emotional walk to the stage, no teary speech, no viral clip.
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Instead, last year’s winner Kieran Culkin stepped in to accept the award. Keeping things cheeky, he told the audience, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening, or didn’t want to.” The line landed, but the mystery only grew.
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While Hollywood clapped, Penn was in Ukraine meeting Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian president later shared a photo of the two on social media, thanking the actor for his continued support.
Zelenskyy wrote that Penn has stood with Ukraine since the very start of the full-scale war and continues to do so. He also called Penn a “true friend of Ukraine”.
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. pic.twitter.com/wGneO1rqJI— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) March 16, 2026
If you thought skipping the Oscars was shocking, here’s the twist, Penn has been dodging award shows all season.
At the Golden Globe Awards, he lost the Best Supporting Actor trophy to Stellan Skarsgård for ‘Sentimental Value’. But even when Penn ‘did’ win big, like at the Actor Awards and the BAFTA Awards, he still didn’t show up.
Basically, trophies are chasing him… and he’s nowhere to be found.
For Penn, this isn’t about avoiding red carpets. It’s about priorities. At the Lumiere Film Festival, he opened up about how activism, filmmaking, and even carpentry all come from the same place.
He spoke about his documentary Superpower, co-directed with Aaron Kaufman, which focuses on his interactions with Zelenskyy.
Penn explained that whether he’s building furniture, acting in a film, or working in humanitarian spaces, the goal is the same; to “be value added.” But he also admitted it’s not always perfect. Sometimes, he said, you risk making things worse, and every action needs careful thought about its impact.
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