Thandiwe Newton calls Sean Penn a 'jibbering fool' over comments on 'feminized' men

Thandiwe Newton has ridiculed Sean Penn for his recent statements on gender, slamming the Hollywood actor as 'tragic' and a 'jibbering fool'.

The Reminiscence actor called out her fellow A-lister on his opinions about masculinity at the weekend, taking to Twitter to share her unimpressed reaction to his controversial viewpoint. 

Sean, 61, made headlines last week after claiming that "men in American culture have become wildly feminized" during a Zoom interview with the Independent. He went on to criticize the relationship between gender fluidity and gender equality in society, adding, "I don't think that to be fair to women, we should become them." 

The Dead Man Walking star doubled down on his comments—which he made sitting beside his 30-year-old daughter, Dylan Frances Penn—saying, "I think that men have, in my view, become quite feminized." 

“I have these very strong women in my life who do not take masculinity as a sign of oppression toward them. There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt.”

The questionable remarks have sparked a major backlash online, with both fans and celebrities taking to social media to criticize the problematic nature of Sean's stance. One high-profile individual to join the conversation was Thandiwe Newton, who appears to have lost respect for the Oscar-winner in light of his divisive comments. 

"Dude what are you SAY-ING?? Like for REAL? You’re a jibbering FOOL. MF you used to be sexy but now you’re just tragic," she tweeted on Saturday. 

The 49-year-old BAFTA winner also expressed sympathy for Dylan Frances Penn, referring to the Flag Day actress as "that poor little mite". 

"Thank God her Mum’s [Robin Wright] so dope. Please stop ruining the brilliance of #LicoricePizza with this nonsense," she wrote, referring to Sean's 2021 comedy-drama co-starring Bradley Cooper. 

This isn't the first time Thandiwe, who took back the correct spelling of her name last April, has shared her progressive beliefs on gender. In 2020, she revealed that she never wanted her daughter, Ripley Parker, to feel constrained by society's expectations of her as a girl or a woman. 

"My daughter was a bit of an experiment," Thandiwe told the Daily Mail. "When she was born, I just had a very powerful sense that I didn’t want her gender ([o be] the first stop on how she identified herself." She also said that she didn't correct people if they called Ripley a boy when she was little and dressed her in "neutral colors" rather than "exclusively pink." 

Sounds pretty cool to us.