Marco Rubio Mocks Sean Penn’s ‘Fawning’ El Chapo Interview, Says It’s ‘Grotesque’

Senator and Republican presidential candidate, Marco Rubio, didn’t waste any time, or pull any punches, in his quick rebuke of the blossoming revelation that actor Sean Penn conducted an interview with Mexican drug cartel kingpin and renegade, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, months before the prison escapee’s recent capture.

While the politics of Marco Rubio and the Fast Times At Ridgemont High actor differ greatly, Marco Rubio’s disdain for Penn’s use of his Hollywood status was palpable.

Appearing on ABC’s This Week, Rubio took to ripping on Sean Penn during a Sunday morning interview, calling out Penn for using the fortune, fame, and glamour he’s acquired as benefits of “this great country,” to “fawn all over a criminal and a drug trafficker,” particularly while El Chapo was on the run from the law.

Rubio also took the ABC on-air opportunity to snub Sean Penn, Rubio saying, “I didn’t even know he was still around.”

“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. I find it grotesque… Sean Penn is not someone I spend a lot of time thinking about, I didn’t even know he was still around, I think he made movies a long time ago… I guess (Mexican authorities) used the interview that (Sean Penn) had in order to find him. That’s fantastic. I hope they extradite ‘El Chapo’ to the United States.”

The Sean Penn interview of El Chapo, to which Marco Rubio gave poor reviews, came to light following El Chapo’s capture by Mexican authorities earlier this week.

Sean Penn wrote a piece for Rolling Stone, who published the Sean Penn El Chapo interview on January 9, the actor and renegade drug kingpin reportedly meeting to discuss the potential production of an El Chapo biopic film.

Claiming his pursuit of El Chapo was, not surprisingly, very secretive, Penn actually gets out ahead of Marco Rubio with some self-effacing humor, calling himself “the single most technologically illiterate man left standing.”

“It’s a clandestine horror show for the single most technologically illiterate man left standing. At 55 years old, I’ve never learned to use a laptop. Do they still make laptops? No f**king idea! It’s 4:00 in the afternoon. Another gorgeous fall day in New York City. The streets are abuzz with the lights and sirens of diplomatic movement, heads of state, U.N. officials, Secret Service details, the NYPD. It’s the week of the U.N. General Assembly. Pope Francis blazed a trail and left town two days before. I’m sitting in my room at the St. Regis Hotel with my colleague and brother in arms, Espinoza.”

Marco Rubio’s mocking of Penn did include the supportive conclusion, however, that the Penn interview may have led to El Chapo’s ultimate capture.

That El Chapo, with his vast resources and outlaw support, has figured out how to escape from Mexican prisons twice, may be why Marco Rubio hopes El Chapo is extradited to the United States.

A key figure of making the Sean Penn El Chapo interview happen was actress, Kate del Castillo, reports ABC News, though Marco Rubio didn’t mention del Castillo while castigating Penn.

In the end, as critical of Penn’s interview as Marco Rubio is, Sean Penn likely wouldn’t vote for Marco Rubio anyway.

[Images by Alex Wong and Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images]