Sean Penn says not to go see his new show or movie unless vaccinated

Actor Sean Penn told CNN on Saturday that people shouldn't show up to see him, either in movie theaters or live, unless they are fully vaccinated. Penn told interviewer Michael Smerconish, "I am so grateful that audiences — and yes, we’ll come around to that, I would request only vaccinated audiences — have an opportunity to see this theatrically."

"It’s rare these days to have something that is exclusively theatrical. Eventually it will stream, and that’s a better time for the unvaccinated to see it, though I think I’ll probably offend them out of that choice."

Penn then went further, saying that people who are not vaccinated shouldn't show up to see the movie either. "I do request people who are not vaccinated don’t go to the cinemas. Stay home until you are convinced of these very clearly safe vaccines."

"You can’t go around pointing a gun in somebody’s face, which is what it is when people are unvaccinated," continued Penn. "That’s part of why I think [vaccines] should be mandatory. Resistance that’s just based on a certain kind of… lack of imagination and understanding of anything that’s helpful to the human race."

"I’ve become very frustrated by that. But I can only work within my own bounds and say that, for me, it should be mandatory.”

"I didn’t want to feel complicit in something that was taking care of one group and not the other. And I do believe that everyone should get vaccinated. I believe it should be mandatory, like turning your headlights on in the car at night."

Penn appears to be echoing the sentiments of local government officials in cities such as New York City, San Francisco and New Orleans, and others planning on enacting similar measures in the near future.