Sean Penn is getting blowback for his Rolling Stone interview with wanted Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, but Geraldo Rivera is “mystified” by the overwhelmingly negative reaction.
“Folks getting mad at Penn cause he got chummy w El Chapo Why?” the Fox News personality tweeted Sunday. “Penn wasnt acting as a journalist he was one risking alot to get huge exclusive.”
“Mystifying how outraged so many are,” Rivera added. “Is it because he’s a lefty? It certainly c/n be because he intv’d world’s most wanted man.”
Rivera’s defense of the actor’s adventure to Mexico with actress Kate del Castillo came before “Spotlight” screenwriter Josh Singer told TheWrap at the Golden Globes on Sunday that he wishes “we didn’t need Sean Penn to interview people and act like a journalist.”
“I wish we had more real journalists on the ground doing that work. And sadly, the last 15 years has decimated the newspaper business and decimated reporters,” Singer said. “We’ve got Sean Penn interviewing people instead of professional journalists and I think that’s an issue. He doesn’t know what professional journalism is … One of the things we’re trying to get out of [‘Spotlight’] is how much more of that we need.”
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio called the interview “grotesque” while appearing on ABC’s “This Week” the same day.
“If one of these American actors who have benefited from the greatness of this country, who have made money from our free enterprise system, want to go fawn all over a criminal and a drug trafficker in their interviews, they have a Constitutional right to do it,” Rubio said. “I find it grotesque.”
New Yorker writer Ben Taub took to Twitter to ask, “Why didn’t Sean Penn ask El Chapo how many real journalists his organization has killed?” New Yorker editor Nicholas Thompson took more issue with Penn’s writing.
“Every single sentence here is crazy in one way or another,” he tweeted.
6 Times Hollywood Shook Up Criminal Justice Before 'Making a Murderer'
"Making a Murderer" subject Brendan Dassey had his conviction overturned by a federal judge on August 12. But it's not the first time a film or documentary has been a factor in a major legal reversal of fortune.
"Gimme Shelter" (1970)
A documentary directed by the Maysles brothers, "Gimme Shelter" started out as a simple concert film about The Rolling Stones, but turned out to be essential documentation of the fights and violence that erupted at the Altamont Free Concert.
Cinema 5
"The Thin Blue Line" (1988)
Errol Morris' documentary depicted Randall Dale Adams, a man serving life in prison for a murder he did not commit. Adams was exonerated and released from prison a year after the movie's release.
Miramax
"Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" (2003-11)
In a series of three documentaries, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky chronicled the arrest, conviction and imprisonment of the West Memphis Three, a trio of teenagers wrongfully accused of murdering three children with Satanic overtones. By the time the final installment aired on HBO, the case had generated enough publicity to with the trio's release from prison.
HBO
"The Invisible War" (2012)
The Oscar-nominated "The Invisible War" documented the culture of widespread sexual harassment and sexual assault in the military, and led to new legislation changing the way those cases are handled.
Cinedigm
"Serial" (2014)
The first season of Sarah Koenig's podcast re-investigated the case of Adnan Syed, who was convicted of murdering his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999. Thanks in part to the attention from "Serial," Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Martin P. Welch on June 30 2016, officially vacated Syed’s conviction and life sentence, and ordered a new trial.
The night before the high-profile and highly incriminating series finale aired, real estate heir Robert Durst was arrested in New Orleans and charged with murder. In February, he pleaded guilty to gun charges but still awaits trial in L.A. for the killing of his friend, Susan Berman.
“What the hell did I do?” Durst asked himself while still mic-ed in the final episode. “Killed ’em all, of course.”
The overturning of Brandon Dassey’s murder conviction isn’t the first time a documentary has helped right a legal wrong
"Making a Murderer" subject Brendan Dassey had his conviction overturned by a federal judge on August 12. But it's not the first time a film or documentary has been a factor in a major legal reversal of fortune.