Here’s the Real Reason Sean Penn Interviewed El Chapo

After initial reports indicated Sean Penn had no regrets about interviewing drug lord El Chapo, the actor and director revealed his bitterness over the reception of his Rolling Stone article. “My article failed,” he told Charlie Rose.

Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was the subject of Penn’s recent journalistic venture, but he told Rose the public’s reaction to the article “ignores its purpose.” The interview is set to air in full on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and it will also air on The Charlie Rose Show on Monday.

Recounting what Sean Penn told the Associated Press days earlier — that he had no regrets — Rose asked him if he still felt that way.

“I have a terrible regret,” Penn told Rose. “I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to contribute to this conversation on the war on drugs.”

The question of regret stemmed from the obvious possible legal ramifications that come with interviewing one of the most wanted prison escapees in history, but it also came from general dismay that Sean Penn handed over his article to El Chapo for final approval.


Read more at Disinfo.com Here’s the Real Reason Sean Penn Interviewed El Chapo

-----"Here’s the Real Reason Sean Penn Interviewed El Chapo"------

Umm....let me take a whack at it....because he's an idiot...

-Christosterone

originally posted by: Christosterone
-----"Here’s the Real Reason Sean Penn Interviewed El Chapo"------

Umm....let me take a whack at it....because he's an idiot...

-Christosterone

No no on. It's not because Sean Penn is an idiot, it's because Sean Penn wants to get some publicity.

The article, it would seem, has succeeded.

The "war" on drugs is a trillion dollar business as drugs itself is.

Sean Penn has to fight the mighty dollar tho showcase the faults in the system.

The old powers use the always working tactics: Over-snow the message with noise.

Sean Penn probably needs to express his remorse so the cartels go easy on his knee caps.

What does Penn think? Even if we suddenly reversed course and legalized every single illegal drug tomorrow El Chapo and his ilk would still deserve prison terms of life or more ... till they rot ... for the things they've done in the commission of their "business."

What exactly does Penn think the Cartels are doing down there?

Would he excuse all the things Al Capone did during Prohibition at the passage of the 21st Amendment? After all, murder remained murder and a crime even though alcohol was legal again.

He's now afraid for his life? What was he thinking when he made the decision to meet with a known drug lord and escapee who admitted killing two or three thousand people?

He put his own life in jeopardy the day he personally met with El Chapo. His willingness to meet secretly with a known fugitive and murderer doesn't say much for Sean Penn's character.

Waits for a Sean Penn film about El Chapo ...

IMO.

I think Penn is part of the psy-ops to convince people that Guzman was actually "captured".

I don't think he was "captured" at all.

It's all controlled opposition to keep people from focusing on real issues.

Penn met with him in October for the interview, Chapo was caught in January, how could Penn be in direct relation to how he was captured? I think three months is enough for one of the most powerful men to disappear again.

The media is stuck on this Idea that penn was the reason why he was caught. I really don't think so, I believe Chapo slipped up in other ways that hasn't been clarified yet or he slipped up in his own ways with how he loves to tease the authorities.

If Penn was the real reason why he was captured he would already be dead right now.

a reply to: DisinfoCom

I haven't read the Rolling Stone article yet. I think it's important to inject (oy) the War on Drugs into the national conversation as much as possible. That doesn't mean drug lords should be given amnesty for what they have done, just that we need to stop creating them with them this obvious failure of a policy.

originally posted by: ketsuko
What does Penn think? Even if we suddenly reversed course and legalized every single illegal drug tomorrow El Chapo and his ilk would still deserve prison terms of life or more ... till they rot ... for the things they've done in the commission of their "business."

What exactly does Penn think the Cartels are doing down there?

Would he excuse all the things Al Capone did during Prohibition at the passage of the 21st Amendment? After all, murder remained murder and a crime even though alcohol was legal again.

Yes unless the government is the one doing the killing. .....than its just being a good civil servant.

a reply to: Rosinitiate

Down there it's hard to know who's the government and who's cartel.

It was an interesting interview though, havent read the article but have seen the video. I'm always struck by how regular these guys are that end up becoming monsters and how circumstances shape who we grow into. He looks like a plumber or something.

Sean Penn was most likely just a useful idiot that didn't take enough precautions.

There are some levels of stupid that you just can't achieve without dedication and perseverance. Sean Penn has achieved "completely stupid" with lots and lots of practice. The deluded fool has the audacity to blame readers for his article "failing" when it is his fault for writing at a 6th Grade reading level with a 8th Grade understanding of the issues.

"You went full retard, you never go full retard"...

What an ass.

a reply to: Atsbhct

Mexicans don't do knee caps, that's old school mobs, no they do decappuccino

a reply to: Leonidas

Having just read Penn's article, I have to wonder if you did.

Here's the full video for anybody that hasn't seen it
youtu.be...

a reply to: DisinfoCom

If Penn is earnest about his intent, then his article did fail - but not upon it's own merits, rather because of the timing of Guzman's capture. The capture instantly changed the context of the dialogue from "See what this does" into "HA! GOT THE BAD MAN!"

The "War On Drugs" is a very complex issue with deeply disturbing subtexts and underpinnings. Just the racial disparities in prosecution rates and sentencing are enough to make one pause. Add in the hardly discussed and undoubtedly profitable property seizure game and that pause becomes a shudder. Continue onto the reality that some, if not most drug users are self medicating or addicted - thus suggesting that we are criminalizing illness - that shudder evolves into a retching in the stomach. The dawning understanding that a "War On Drugs" is essentially a house divided - a declaration of war against our own, our friends, our neighbors, or parents, siblings and maybe even ourselves and the retching gives way to complete disgust.

Is legalization a reasonable position to take in a culture such as ours? That is hard to say. Other countries have gone down that path and actually seen crime, across the board, drop markedly. Then again those countries were a bit more sane than America to begin with. Here we tend to end up in extremes... so it very well might not play out anywhere near the same way.

What I do know, and what I think Penn was possibly hoping to table, is a discussion along the lines of "What we've been doing is not working. We imprison or even kill people over the idea that they put chemicals into their own bodies. This is morally wrong, socially irresponsible and financially untenable. We have to find another answer."

Or maybe Penn saw El Chapo as an anti-hero and got a bit let down by the truth... or a bit of both.

a reply to: xuenchen

Is he the Osama of Mexico?