Sean Penn: Steve Bannon was just ‘another bitter Hollywood wannabe’

'Snowden' film premiere - New York

Can I get away with writing “Ol’ Ham-face says words” and then just leaving it at that? No? Alright. Sean Penn is a Hollywood actor and a liberal activist. I don’t believe he was some huge Hillary Clinton fan, but to his credit, he endorsed Hillary very early on in the 2016 election year while also talking about how much he liked Bernie Sanders. Think about that – when even Sean Penn understood the choice was between evil/fascism (Trump) versus a moderate candidate (HRC), it makes you wonder WTF Susan Sarandon was doing, right? So, Sean Penn has no love for Donald Bigly and all of the Minions of Bigly. Penn actually has some history with one particular Minion of Bigly: Steve Bannon. Remember, Bannon worked in Hollywood for years.

Long before he became the controversial White House Chief Strategist in the Trump administration, Steve Bannon decided to try his hand at the movie business. Back in 1991, the 38-year-old Goldman Sachs vet hooked up with none other than Sean Penn to help produce the actor’s directorial debut, The Indian Runner. Bannon, who was recently removed from the National Security Council, became a topic of conversation during an interview between Penn and Death and Taxes magazine. Asked about his time working with Bannon on the film, Penn offered a scathing review of the once-fledgling producer.

“Bannon was then, as he is now, simply another bitter Hollywood wannabe who went rogue by way of toxic narcissistic iconoclasm,” Penn said. “But, deep in his heart, he’s just a conniving hateful bloated punk who despises mankind. And then there are also the bad things about him.”

After earning his first executive producer credit on the film, Bannon went on to invest in NBC’s Seinfeld in 1993, a decision that continues to pay off as the show runs in syndication. In 2004, he made a Ronald Reagan documentary, In the Face of Evil, and reportedly put up $1 million dollars to finance The Undefeated, a 2011 film about Sarah Palin’s political journey.

[From People]

“Deep in his heart, he’s just a conniving hateful bloated punk who despises mankind.” I don’t know, you guys? I think Sean Penn might be right on the money with this one, and I can’t believe I’m saying that. So many people want to believe that Steve Bannon is a unhinged genius with a master plan that involves white supremacy and fascism. While that image is terrifying, let’s also be clear: Steve Bannon is being constantly outmaneuvered by Jared Kushner, so let’s stop thinking of Bannon as a genius. Getting outmaneuvered by Jared Kushner is like being outmaneuvered by a bag of hair in a Brooks Brothers suit. Instead of a machiavellian genius, maybe Steve Bannon is just a slovenly misanthrope who just hates everyone and everything. All too often, the pundit class wants to paint these people in larger-than-life terms, both good and bad, like Steve Bannon is the epitome of everything evil. While he is a terrible person who believes in terrible things, he also seems like a dumbass? He also looks like (and I would imagine “smells like”) someone who drinks from a dirty flask all day long.

Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

34 Responses to “Sean Penn: Steve Bannon was just ‘another bitter Hollywood wannabe’”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. mia girl says:

    Gross guy talks about even grosser guy.

  2. Jayce says:

    Pot.. Kettle…Black!!

    He’s vile.

  3. Talie says:

    Has Jerry Seinfeld ever talked about this…? I find it fascinating that he is associated with that show.

    • DD says:

      I love me some Seinfeld, but this is almost a reason to stop watching. I don’t want to put any more money in Bannon’s pocket.

      • neelyo says:

        I’ve stopped watching it since I found out. It sucks but I figure I’d seen the episodes so many times anyway.

    • Missmarirose says:

      I think he said he was surprised to learn that Bannon gets residuals. But I can’t find the quote now.

  4. Jenns says:

    Bannon’s face should come with a warning.

    And yes, I think he’s just some bitter white man who blames the Jews for all of his problems. He’s basically a less successful version of Mel Gibson. The problem is that this POS attached himself to a orange buffoon who went on to be the most powerful person in the world. And now here we are.

    • INeedANap says:

      You got it.

      I’ve believed for years that bigots just transfer their self-hatred onto others. They can’t stand that they are mediocre fools even with the cards stacked in their favor, so they blame everyone else.

  5. Shambles says:

    The messenger sucks, but I’m really glad he said all of this.

    So Babbon (typo and it stays) is just a bitter failure who thinks the world owes him something.

  6. PunkyMomma says:

    “slovenly misanthrope who just hates everyone and everything.”

    Exactly. There is no way Trump will defend Bannon over Kushner, and if Bannon is to continue his agenda, he will, at some time, have to attack Kushner. It’s only a matter of time.

    Penn is spot on.

    • KB says:

      Joe Scarborough, Kushner’s mouthpiece, went in on Bannon again today saying he “couldn’t implement a ham sandwich” and complaining that Breitbart attacked Jared all weekend and asked “how dumb does [Bannon] think Trump and Ivanka and Kushner are?”

      Any supposed cease fire between Bannon and Kushner previously reported isn’t true. I love infighting among my enemies!

      • adastraperaspera says:

        I am beginning to believe the Kushner is texting Scarborough directly, as some have claimed. Morning Joe just keeps trying to polish up Kushner like he’s some wunderkind. It’s gross to watch.

      • Megan says:

        @ad I think it is definitely true. Kushner is obviously giving him the “scoop.”

      • Christin says:

        I have watched enough bits of Joe’s show the past two weeks that have basically revealed JK is his inside source. It’s really been the only reason I can bear watching it, actually.

        They’ve gone from being vague (‘they’, ‘people close to him’) to making it much clearer who their single source is. Other outlets have said that JK calls Joe to get his side’s spin into the media.

  7. Tiffany says:

    Sean, while with his own issues, can be on the money sometimes. That’s all I got.

  8. Rapunzel says:

    Bannon looks the cryptkeeper. And Penn is right on the money about his personality. Bannon is just a tool used by the Mercers. He’s just as in over his head as Trump.

    • Megan says:

      The Mercers consider Bannon their Svengali like that is a good thing. I think they are tools for Bannon, not the other way around.

  9. Snazzy says:

    “Getting outmaneuvered by Jared Kushner is like being outmaneuvered by a bag of hair in a Brooks Brothers suit.”

    thank you

  10. adastraperaspera says:

    Last fall, Penn called Tr*mp’s appeal “Masturbatory Populism.” I’m willing to bet that stung the Cheeto, because the one thing we know for sure is Tr*mp loves celebrities. Penn’s first movies came out in the early 80s–Cheeto’s heyday.

  11. toni says:

    The media should talk more about the force behind Bannon and Breitbart, the Mercer family, who are religious fanatics. Worse than the Koch’s.

    • Tiffany says:

      YES!!! Mercer is a nasty piece of work with very deep pockets. There should more hit pieces out there about him.

    • neelyo says:

      Yep they are ten times worse than the Kochs and until recently, much more secretive. They are horrible people and they need to be blamed for this mess as much as anyone else.

      Father and Daughter Mercer need all the publicity they do not want.

  12. Melodie says:

    Takes a woman-beater to know a woman-beater, doesn’t it.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Not that Sean Penn is any great shakes, but plenty of non-violent men and women also recognize Bannon to be the piece of s%$t that Penn describes.

  13. Who ARE These People? says:

    “And then there are all the bad things about him.” — Thanks for the laugh!

  14. Sophie says:

    Kaiser, i love you. You write exactly what I’m thinking – and you make it laugh-out-loud funnier. Keep it up, you are awesome.

  15. Raina says:

    Bannon looks drunk and hungover at the same time. Besides that, I honestly don’t get the master mind, genius thing about any of those losers. The white house is now just a house where lunatics are running the asylum. There is no genius, there is madness.