Outspoken actor and director Sean Penn made a call for people to ditch political correctness and truly embrace diversity in thought and action as he received a career honor at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday evening.

Italian actor Valeria Golino, who has been close to Penn ever since appearing in his 1991 directorial feature debut The Indian Runner, presented the Oscar winner with the award.

The ceremony was attended by a raft of cinema heavyweights including this year’s festival jury president Luca Guadagnino, Alfonso Cuarón, Walter Salles, Monica Bellucci, Tim Burton, Justin Kurzel, Jeff Nichols, and Cannes Film Festival President Iris Knobloch among others. “For those of you with any familiarity with me, and what has been my life, you will understand that I don’t often miss the opportunity to say an opinion, and I have one tonight in celebration of this incredible group of people that this festival brings together,” said Penn.

The actor went on to make a reference to a 2018 Monk debate in Toronto in which UK actor Stephen Fry argued against political correctness, saying it was fuelling a culture war and extremes of thought on all sides. “I think it’s our job to exploit our diversity in positive ways, and to stand up for it, to embody it,” said Penn. “While Stephen is a very progressive minded person, what he criticized in the liberals on the other side for was that liberalism has become not only in the United States but around the world, this demand for diversity, but not diversity of behavior and not diversity of opinion or language.

Sean Penn Challenges Political Correctness As He Is Feted With Career Award At Marrakech

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