Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn has landed himself in hot water after being photographed smoking a cigarette inside the Beverly Hilton during Sunday night's Golden Globes ceremony, potentially risking a financial penalty.
A Costly Nicotine Fix at a Star-Studded Event
The 65-year-old actor, known for his independent streak, was seen lighting up inside the venue, which is a designated smoke-free area. This act directly contravenes California state law, which has prohibited indoor smoking since 1995. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, fines for such an infraction can range from $81 to $324, with a typical first-time offence carrying a $100 penalty.
Penn, who first found fame in the 1982 film Bad Boys, was photographed indulging in his cigarette near fellow stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Hudson. The images quickly circulated online, leading fans on social media platform X to brand the long-time smoker as 'arrogant' for flouting the event's protocols.
A History of Defying Rules and Confrontations
This is far from the first instance of Penn courting controversy or breaking rules. Just months earlier, at the 2024 Marrakech International Film Festival, he chain-smoked through an entire news conference. His history of confrontational behaviour stretches back decades.
His first notable brush with the law came in 1985 when he physically attacked two journalists attempting to photograph him and his then-wife Madonna in Nashville. This incident set a pattern that led to a prison sentence two years later. While already on probation for assaulting songwriter David Wolinski at a Los Angeles nightclub, Penn violated the terms by punching an extra, Jeffrey Klein, on the set of his film Colors in 1987. He was subsequently arrested and served 33 days of a 60-day jail sentence for assault.
Throughout his turbulent marriage to Madonna in the 1980s, rumours swirled about domestic violence, though both parties have consistently and staunchly denied these allegations. Madonna even testified on his behalf in a related defamation lawsuit.
Unapologetic in the Face of Controversy
Despite this lengthy record of being at the centre of scandals, Penn has shown little concern for so-called 'cancel culture'. In a joint interview with Julia Roberts last year, he critiqued the modern tendency to avoid discomfort, stating, 'I think shame is underrated these days. It's got a bad name this decade. Why shouldn't people be ashamed of things?'
The thrice-divorced actor, a Malibu native, has won two Academy Awards for Mystic River (2004) and Milk (2009). In a notable act in November 2022, he gave one of his Oscar statuettes to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a gesture of support, eight months after the Academy refused to let the politician speak during its ceremony.
As the Golden Globes organisers consider their response, the incident serves as another chapter in the complex public narrative of an actor who continues, for better or worse, to march to the beat of his own drum.
