Sean Penn doesn’t have Covid, after all. Paul Thomas Anderson announced from the stage at last night’s DGA Awards that Penn — his Licorice Pizza cast members who was going to present the filmmaker with a special medallion — had to skip the event because Penn had tested positive.
It was reported Penn did test positive in preparation for attending the DGAs, where the ceremony required attendees to show proof of vaccination and a negative Covid test result.
However, the suspicion is that the test result was a false positive, per his camp. Some 48 hours after that first test, Penn has tested negative and was never symptomatic.
Penn is no stranger to the Covid cause. When the pandemic hit two years ago, his CORE group was at the forefront of efforts to arrange for testing for those who would have found it difficult to get otherwise. When vaccines became available, CORE spread them far and wide and its infrastructure became a blueprint for dispersing the vaccines in cities across the country, and in other countries. The tireless Oscar-winner just returned from the Ukraine where he is filming a documentary on the Russian invasion.
Anderson surprised the crowd from the stage when he told DGA attendees, “Sean tested positive for COVID, which is kind of crazy considering what he’s done for all of us. Like a World War I veteran coming home, slipping on a step. So, it’s a drag not to have him here. It’s a pleasure to work with him and all the actors. It’s the best part of this job that we all have.”
