"It is my absolute feeling that the caution with which the United States has pledged support, which seemed, in my reading of February 2022 was a, like a lean on in the fear of nuclear conflict, something I think all of us should look very carefully at and understand that, of course, is possible," Penn said. "And that's to be concerning. The likelihood is extremely low. And as one of our witnesses in the film says, you know, are we going to let a gangster with nuclear weapons dictate the way we live?"

Penn emotionally lamented the fact that the Biden administration did not pour F-16 warplanes into Ukraine from the very beginning of the conflict, initially fearing the move to be too escalatory. Describing this hesitation, Penn said that "at some point, caution becomes cowardice."

As you might expect, the interviewer refrained from challenging Penn on his claim that the likelihood of nuclear war is "extremely low" in spite of his acknowledgement that it's a real possibility, or on his claim that resisting increasing the likelihood of nuclear war is an act of cowardice.

Sean Penn has been one of Hollywood's most egregious empire apologists for some time now (in 2020 he told CNN that "there is no greater humanitarian force on the planet than the United States military"), but even by his standards these comments about nuclear brinkmanship are remarkably odious.