Sean Penn has defended Woody Allen, who directed him in the 1999 film "Sweet and Lowdown," saying that he would not hesitate to work with the actor and director again despite the allegations that he sexually abused his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow.
During an appearance on "The Louis Theroux Podcast," Penn spoke about their time on the set of the film and the controversy that surrounds Allen.
"I love that movie. I'd work with him in a heartbeat if it was the right thing," Penn said, according to Variety.
Addressing the allegations, Penn said, it seems so "heavily weighted."
"Look, with these things...I don't know anyone well enough to say 100% this didn't happen or that didn't happen or something," he said. "God forbid you're wrong and there is a victim involved, right? I haven't read everything, but the stories are mostly told by people who I would not trust with a dime. It seems so heavily weighted in that way."
Penn further defended Allen when asked about the accusations coming from his adopted children.
"I am not aware of any clinical psychologist or psychiatrist or anyone I ever heard talk about the subject of pedophilia, that in 80 years of life, it only happens once. I am not aware of that," he said.
"When people try to associate his much younger girlfriends, right or wrong is not the conversation here. Post-puberty consensual stuff is a different conversation," he said.
"I just think that whatever is the worst of people's suspicions about him, just check them with the facts separate from the [#MeToo] movement and all those who benefited from that. Let's just take a second is all I'm saying. I see he is not proven guilty, so I take him as innocent. I would work with him in a heartbeat," Penn concluded.
Woody Allen has remained absent from the Hollywood film scene since 2018, when renewed attention was drawn to abuse allegations made by Farrow.
Penn has also opened up about his four-year marriage to Madonna. Although they divorced in 1989, the pair remained on good terms afterward, Billboard reported.
"It didn't take us long to realize that we had mistaken a good first date for a wedding partner," Penn said. "It didn't take us long to recover after we got divorced, maybe a year, in a friendship. I have a lot of fond memories of it – it's not all jail."
Penn admitted that they had struggled to get past obstacles during their marriage, though.
"There was a lot of alcohol and she'd be fairly accusing me of that," he said.