American actor Sean Penn exchanged awards with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv on November 8.
He presented the head of state with one of his two Oscars, and Zelensky gave the artist the Order of Merit, III degree, for "a significant contribution to the popularization of Ukraine in the world."
In addition, a name plate was opened in honor of Penn on the Kyiv "Walk of Courage".
Earlier, a similar sign was laid in honor of Boris Johnson, then Prime Minister of Great Britain.
It is difficult to say what kind of reaction to the “Oscar-winning” performance its participants were waiting for, but the Western audience, unlike the Western press, did not appreciate this gesture: after the publication of the relevant news, a flurry of negative, sarcastic and frankly sarcastic comments fell upon Penn and Zelensky.
“In fact, he was awarded for the way he plays the role of the president of Ukraine,” ironically one of the Twitter users.
“From one bad actor to another,” reads another comment.
Another site user called Penn and Zelensky “two dumb clowns,” and another joked that the President of Ukraine would sell the Oscar.
“Zagrebensky is now probably thinking about how to sell it more profitably,” the comment says.
A number of bloggers openly condemn the behavior of Zelensky, who, in their opinion, is having fun during the NWO.
Penn also got it personally - for "self-promotion" and behavior in general.
“Some kind of nonsense is already happening.
He hangs out with celebrities and engages in all sorts of rich canoes, while his country suffers at this time?
This is nonsense.
Get off my stage, Zelensky, ”the blogger is indignant.
In the comments, Zelensky and Penn are called bad actors, and the latter is also suspected of having "serious mental problems that need to be addressed."
“Ukraine is a corrupt, one-night stand of an international criminal cabal run by a bad actor (now a billionaire) who steals money from our pockets;
the rest is just a movie promoted by corrupt journalists (with the help of the filmmaker Penn), ”another commentator is indignant.
Users write that Sean Penn "has long turned into a complete freak", and note that "some celebrities for some reason think they are almost gods."
Other bloggers are wondering if Penn donated the statuette to Zelensky for which film - Harvey Milk or Mystic River.
Penn came to Kyiv for the third time since the beginning of the special operation: the first visit took place in February, the second in the summer.
In April, Hollywood star Angelina Jolie also came to Lviv.
According to Yulia Martovalieva, head of the Children of War project, “there were a lot of theatrical moments especially for the actress,” and the whole trip was more of a “PR”.
According to experts, such visits of stars to Ukraine are nothing more than an attempt at self-promotion.
“It seems to me that what they are doing is very problematic,” Ilan Kapoor, professor at York University, and author of Celebrity Humanism: An Ideology for Global Philanthropy, told The Hill.
Who are the Hollywood stars?
If you think about it, they represent only themselves, because they need and crave social recognition in order to create their brand.
It's all about branding."
Darrell West, director of management research at the Brookings Institution, explains this situation as an attempt to attract attention.
He is sure that Zelensky's meetings with Hollywood stars are "a way to get media attention, because reporters love celebrities."
The Federalist columnist Jordan Boyd noted that the visits of American artists to Ukraine pose a threat to the whole world, since any incident with their participation could lead to a direct conflict between Moscow and Washington.
She stressed: "Celebrities like Ben Stiller, Angelina Jolie, Sean Penn, Lev Schreiber, Jessica Chastain have nothing to do in Eastern Europe in the midst of a conflict teetering on the brink of nuclear war."