Penn’s Panned

Sean Penn’s hypocrisy, let me count the ways (“Don’t Get Him Started,” by Rachel Abramowitz, Jan. 6).

Anything feel-good is baloney. Except when he’s in it (see: “Friends”).

America is a comfort-addicted society, yet he gets, having presumably asked for it, $5 million for a film role so he can live an obscenely comfortable life.

The Hollywood system is shallow and corrupt, but he throws a fit over being denied use of a private jet to fly to a premiere.

Go away, Sean Penn. Go far away.

JEFF WEINSTOCK

Woodland Hills

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Poor Sean Penn. What a hard life he must lead, married to a stunning actress with two healthy children and living in a “compound north of San Francisco.”

Too bad that he isn’t “ahead of the game financially.” Otherwise we wouldn’t be subjected to his angry, martyrdom rants and anarchic desire to eradicate history like a certain someone else who had a predilection for burning books and entire cultures not so long ago.

In light of current world events, are his comments relevant? In fact, is Penn even relevant?

PHILIP T. EDGERLY

Crofton, Md.

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An insightful interview notwithstanding, Abramowitz, for reasons I can only guess are personal, felt compelled to write, “The only other occupants of the bar are an ever-expanding klatch of rich, blue-haired ladies ... discussing drinking and shopping, their tinny tones constantly threatening to drown out ...”

Truthful? Probably. Necessary? No. Condescending? Definitely. Had it been written by a man, it would have been unacceptable. That it was written by a woman makes me shake my head in acknowledgement that as women we can be our own worst enemies.

CALLAN BURT

Los Angeles