Sean Penn just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another at the 98th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
However, the 65-year-old American star was a no-show, so he wasn’t actually there in person to accept his big win.
He beat his co-star Benicio del Toro in One Battle After Another, Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein, Delroy Lindo in Sinners, and Stellan Skarsgård in Sentimental Value.
People are divided over the win, with some fans disappointed by his absence and others thinking it doesn’t matter so much whether he was in attendance or not.
Penn missing the Oscars is not a huge surprise, as he previously didn’t attend the Actor Awards and BAFTA Awards, despite winning for Best Actor in a Supporting Role at both.
Reportedly, the actor has long had a complicated relationship with awards shows and Hollywood in general, as per TV Insider.
Back in 2023, he revealed to Variety that he considered melting down the two Oscars he had previously won to provide Ukraine with ammunition in its war against Russia.
Sean Penn just won an Oscar – and he wasn’t in attendance (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)
Kieran Culkin accepted the Oscar on Penn’s behalf, saying, “Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening or didn’t want to. So I’ll be accepting this award on his behalf.”
As for exactly why he’s not here this time, the reason is unknown, but New York Times reported that the actor ‘headed to Europe’ and that ‘his plan as of late last week was to visit Ukraine, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter’.
Allegedly, they did not specify what he would be doing there or where precisely within the country he would be going, and made it clear that there’s a ‘possibility’ that his ‘itinerary might have changed.’
His rep also declined to comment to the publication. Tyla has contacted Penn’s reps for comment.
Reacting to his victory, one X user wrote: “SEAN PENN and he didn’t even show up??? BE SO F***ING FR RN #Oscars.”
While a second penned: “Sean Penn just won his third Oscar and he’s not there the way he DGAF lmao. But it’s a deserved win. #Oscars.”
lol at Kieran Culkin’s unscripted joke about no-show Sean Penn after he won Supporting Actor (his THIRD Oscar)
“Sean Penn couldn’t be here this evening…or didn’t want to…so I’ll be accepting this award on his behalf.” pic.twitter.com/L2BcB2deAq
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) March 16, 2026
A third wrote: “Hey, Kieran Culkin. You didn’t have to add that jab at the end of SEAN PENN winning his OSCAR. Saying he didn’t want to be here. #Oscars.”
While a fourth quipped: “No, seriously?!!! SEAN PENN?!!!! And he was a no show, y’all deserved that L! #Oscars.”
And a fifth agreed: “Yeah, let’s give a third Oscar to Sean Penn, who doesn’t even care enough to be there. He’s great in One Battle After Another, but this is a joke #Oscars.”
Meanwhile, a sixth pointed out: “Sean Penn was never going to show up… #Oscars.”
Most awkward Oscars celebrity interactions
Angelina Jolie kissing her brother on the red carpet (2001)
I hate to be the person to bring this up again because I know we’re all trying to forget it but, at the 2001 Oscars red carpet, Jolie rather intimately kissed her brother, James, on the lips… in front of actual people.
The moment makes it onto all the awkward, gag-inducing, Oscar round ups and although since, people have come to their defence, saying how, at the time, they’d found out their mum was sick with cancer, sadly, that’s not he part people remember.
Clearly a regular occurrence for these siblings because this isn’t even Oscars’ night. (Ron Galella, Ltd. / Contributor)
Adrien Brody kissing Halle Berry without her consent (2003)
Yes, another kissing one – sorry. The Monster’s Ball Oscar winner had a very awkward moment at the ceremony in 2003, when The Pianist star Adrien Brody received his first ever Oscar win and decided to celebrate by planting one on Berry without her consent.
As if it wasn’t awkward enough the first time, she got her payback at the 2025 ceremony, but there’s no doubt that now infamous moment takes the crown as one of the cringiest things to happen at the Oscars.
Halle Berry planted a friendly kiss on best actor nominee Adrien Brody on the #Oscars red carpet.
The moment was a throwback to the now-infamous kiss that Brody gave Berry when she presented him with his first Academy Award back in 2003. pic.twitter.com/Urz0idedgy
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) March 2, 2025
Jennifer Aniston coming face to face with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (2009)
The split heard around the world was that of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt, after he cheated on her with Angelina Jolie and the whole world wouldn’t let Aniston forget it.
To add insult to injury, in 2009 – five years on from the fiasco – Aniston took to the stage with Jack Black to present an award and who was sat right there, up, close and personal in the audience you ask? Take a wild guess…
The camera person even had the audacity to pan to the pair during her bit with Black, and showed the pair laughing and smiling. Whether you think she looked uncomfortable or not, she handled it like a pro just by showing up because I know a few people would have called in sick to work that day.
