The #MeToo movement will undoubtedly go down as one of the defining issues of our time, but that doesn't mean it's without its critics. Take, for example, actor Sean Penn, who has spoken out against the movement in a new TV interview.
Appearing on The Today Show, Penn told host Natalie Morales that he finds #MeToo to be too divisive.
"This is a movement that was largely shouldered by a kind of receptacle of the salacious," he said.
When asked to expand on his thoughts, he said, "Well, we don't know what's a fact in many of the cases. Salacious is as soon as you call something a movement that is really a series of many individual accusers, victims, accusations, some of which are unfounded."
"The spirit of much of what has been the #MeToo movement is to divide men and women," he continued.
Morales disagreed with Penn, saying, "Women would say it's uniting women."
Penn replied by saying, "I'm gonna say that women that I talk to, not in front of a camera, that I listen to, of all walks of life, that there's a common sense that is not represented at all in the discussion when it comes to the media discussion of it, the discussion where if Sean Penn says this, so and so's going to attack him for saying this, because of that.
"I don't want it to be a trend, and I'm very suspicious of a movement that gets glommed onto in great stridency and rage and without nuance," he continued. "And even when people try to discuss it in a nuanced way, the nuance itself is attacked. I think it's too black and white. In most things that are very important, it's really good to just slow down."
To watch Sean Penn's interview on Today, go here.
Appearing on The Today Show, Penn told host Natalie Morales that he finds #MeToo to be too divisive.
"This is a movement that was largely shouldered by a kind of receptacle of the salacious," he said.
When asked to expand on his thoughts, he said, "Well, we don't know what's a fact in many of the cases. Salacious is as soon as you call something a movement that is really a series of many individual accusers, victims, accusations, some of which are unfounded."
"The spirit of much of what has been the #MeToo movement is to divide men and women," he continued.
Morales disagreed with Penn, saying, "Women would say it's uniting women."
Penn replied by saying, "I'm gonna say that women that I talk to, not in front of a camera, that I listen to, of all walks of life, that there's a common sense that is not represented at all in the discussion when it comes to the media discussion of it, the discussion where if Sean Penn says this, so and so's going to attack him for saying this, because of that.
"I don't want it to be a trend, and I'm very suspicious of a movement that gets glommed onto in great stridency and rage and without nuance," he continued. "And even when people try to discuss it in a nuanced way, the nuance itself is attacked. I think it's too black and white. In most things that are very important, it's really good to just slow down."
To watch Sean Penn's interview on Today, go here.
