INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Sean Penn Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Promise Of Apology And Charitable Donation

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:23 PST, May 5, 2016

Sean Penn, the Academy Award-winning actor perhaps best known for his performance as Harvey Milk in Milk and as Sam Dawson in I Am Sam, is going to be making his next appearance playing a bird: an angry bird. According to the Guardian, Sean Penn is going to be in the Angry Birds movie, and he will be providing the voice for a bird named Terence who only communicates through grunts and growls.

His appearance in Angry Birds marks Sean Penn’s second venture into the world of voice acting, with his first being in the dubbed version of Persepolis.

He will be among a star-studded cast consisting of Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad, Danny McBride, Peter Dinklage, and Maya Rudolph. The film, which is based on the extremely popular mobile game of the same name, is set to hit theaters in the UK on May 13 and will be debuting in U.S. theaters on May 20.

Apart from being an angry bird onscreen, Sean Penn has also allegedly had quite a temper offscreen. According to the New York Times, Sean Penn is suing Lee Daniels, movie director and co-creator of hit TV show Empire.

Penn’s main reason for the lawsuit is due to what he considers to be Daniels’ disregard for the truth. Daniels allegedly suggested that Penn was physically abusive to his first wife, Madonna. Similar rumors have been around ever since the four-year marriage first ended, so the question remains: Why is this such a sore point for Sean Penn now?

The actor was not willing to be interviewed, as made clear by his lawyer, Mathew S. Rosengart. A historian and friend to Sean Penn, Douglas Brinkley, believes that the reason behind this decision is that Penn is becoming more conscious of his legacy, which includes efforts to assist the survivors of the 2010 Haitian earthquake.

Madonna spoke on the accusations towards Sean Penn.

“While we certainly had more than one heated argument during our marriage. Sean has never struck me, ‘tied me up’ or physically assaulted me, and any report to the contrary is completely outrageous, malicious, reckless and false.”

But according to Billboard, Sean Penn has agreed to withdraw the lawsuit after Daniels offered to make a “profuse apology” and a hefty donation to charity.

Sean Penn’s last romantic partner, Charlize Theron, also became the target of some rumors when he was allegedly ghosted by her. According to Vanity Fair, the rumored reason behind the end of the engagement between Theron and Penn was “ghosting.”

For people who lived in the 90s, ghosting would have meant something else different entirely, and perhaps would have been a reference to the movie Ghost starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. But today, ghosting, by definition, is new millennial jargon for when a romance ends out of nowhere with no signs of it ever having existed. The trend lives up to its name, as just like a ghost, the relationship vanishes into thin air. Theron allegedly did just that to Penn, unceremoniously ending the engagement with no reason and leaving almost no sign that the pair had ever been together.

Charlize Theron spoke on the idea of ghosting and how her relationship with Sean Penn ended.

“When you leave a relationship there has to be some f***ing crazy story or some crazy drama. And the f***ing ghosting thing, like literally I still don’t even know what it is… It’s just its own beast. We were in a relationship and then it didn’t work anymore. And we both decided to separate. That’s it.”

Theron maintains that the relationship ended because they both made the decision not to be together, but whether that is just her take on the events or whether it really is true remains to be seen.

[Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images]

Share this article: Sean Penn Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Promise Of Apology And Charitable Donation
peter dinklage Lee Daniels Sean Penn Jason Sudeikis
More from Inquisitr