Recently, we reported about Sean Penn being conferred with an Academy Award in the Supporting Actor category for his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another. Kieran Culkin, who announced the winner of the award, said in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way, "Sean Penn could not be here this evening or didn’t want to, so I will be accepting the award on his behalf." Meanwhile, the actor has received another award, which is being called a 'mock Oscar,' during his Ukraine visit.
The Ukrainian Railways Chief Executive Officer, Oleksandr Pertsovskyi shared a video on social media showing Penn receiving the so-called 'IronOscar' instead of his Academy Award trophy because he was absent from the marquee event. Pertsovskyi captioned the post saying that Sean Penn visited Ukraine, skipping the Academy Awards. The post further added, "We couldn’t leave our great friend and loyal Ukrainian Raiwlays passenger without an award. So, I have presented Sean with our IronOscar on behalf of all of us!"
While presenting him with the award, Pertsovskyi told the three-time Oscar winner, "That’s what your presence here means. You’re missing the Oscars, so we made you this one. This is from a railcar that was damaged by the Russians. The metal survived, so it’s very special to us. It’s not golden, but it’s very real and from the bottom of our hearts."
Penn called it a 'treasure' and expressed his gratitude to Pertsovskyi for the award. A photograph of the trophy contains the following text: "This steel once carried millions of people away from war. Then a Russian missile came. We did not melt it into a weapon. We forged it into gratitude — for you. For your talent. For your courage to stand with Ukraine."
The President of Ukrain, Volodymyr Zelenskyy also commended the One Battle After Another star for his decision to skip the Oscars ceremony.
