{"id":860623,"date":"2025-07-06T20:14:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T01:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/06\/maher-shreds-sean-penn-for-meeting-with-castro-chavez-after-actor-criticizes-hbo-hosts-trump-meeting\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T20:14:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T01:14:45","slug":"maher-shreds-sean-penn-for-meeting-with-castro-chavez-after-actor-criticizes-hbo-hosts-trump-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/06\/maher-shreds-sean-penn-for-meeting-with-castro-chavez-after-actor-criticizes-hbo-hosts-trump-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Maher shreds Sean Penn for meeting with Castro, Chavez after actor criticizes HBO host\u2019s Trump meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div id=\"beyondwords-wrapper\">\n<p><span>NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>HBO host Bill Maher accused actor Sean Penn of being a hypocrite this week after the actor slammed the comedian\u2019s meeting with President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During the latest episode of Maher\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2c3CGVCHgFs&#038;t=1747s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">&#8220;Club Random&#8221; podcast<\/a>, the comedian and political commentator called out Penn\u2019s meetings with world dictators when the actor pointed out that he wouldn\u2019t have gone to dinner with Trump like Maher had.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Really, you meet with f&#8212;ing Castro and Hugo Chavez, but not the President of the United States?&#8221; Maher asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The disagreement came while the two discussed Maher\u2019s meeting with the president at the White House in April. Maher has maintained that the meeting with Trump was &#8220;gracious and measured&#8221; and suggested the president was a different man in private than he appears on camera.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/bill-maher-declares-himself-hero-confronting-trump-white-house-meeting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>BILL MAHER DECLARES HIMSELF A \u2018HERO\u2019 FOR CONFRONTING TRUMP AT WHITE HOUSE MEETING<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\"  height=\"192\" width=\"343\"><source media=\"(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)\"  height=\"378\" width=\"672\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)\"  height=\"523\" width=\"931\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\"  height=\"405\" width=\"720\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/1200\/675\/bill-maher-sean-penn.jpg?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"Bill Maher and Sean Penn talk dinner meeting with Trump\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>HBO host Bill Maher and actor Sean Penn sparred over the actor&#8217;s meetings with Latin American dictators during a recent episode of Maher&#8217;s podcast.\u00a0<\/span> <span>(Screenshot\/Club Random)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Penn met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backstage.com\/magazine\/article\/sean-penn-meets-chavez-venezuela-30167\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez<\/a> in Caracas in 2007. According to Chavez at the time, he and the actor discussed &#8220;why the (U.S.) empire attacks Chavez so much.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The actor also met with late Cuban communist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/01\/10\/americas\/sean-penn-latin-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">dictator Fidel Castro<\/a> years prior, as well as Raul Castro in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Maher began by asking Penn whether he believed having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/bill-maher-hits-back-critics-after-trump-meeting-says-its-not-bad-he-doesnt-hate-president\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dinner with Trump<\/a> was the right move. The actor said he could see the reasons why Maher would go to dinner with Trump, but admitted he wished the dinner was perceived as &#8220;less successful&#8221; for the president than it was, or that Maher had less praise for Trump\u2019s demeanor during their evening together.<\/p>\n<p>Maher disputed that point, stating, &#8220;Well, it was less successful because I never stopped saying all the things I\u2019ve always said about him. It would have been successful if he had somehow seduced me into supporting him. So it wasn\u2019t successful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/carville-rips-supremely-naive-bill-maher-meeting-trump-praising-hospitality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CARVILLE RIPS \u2018SUPREMELY NAIVE\u2019 BILL MAHER FOR MEETING TRUMP AND PRAISING HIS HOSPITALITY<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><picture><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\"  height=\"192\" width=\"343\"><source media=\"(min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1023px)\"  height=\"378\" width=\"672\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)\"  height=\"523\" width=\"931\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1280px)\"  height=\"405\" width=\"720\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1200\/675\/trump-maher.png?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"President Donald Trump and comedian Bill Maher met at the White House.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"><\/picture><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>President Donald Trump and comedian Bill Maher met at the White House in April.\u00a0<\/span> <span>(Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;The only reason I would not accept an invitation is because I see, I see no \u2013 it\u2019s a long flight,&#8221; Penn said, struggling to give his answer.<\/p>\n<p>Maher cut him off mid-thought, bringing up his meetings with the Latin American dictators.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Penn defended himself, saying there were good things that came out of those meetings.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Yeah, I saw good results come out of some of those things in terms of the agendas that I had\u2026 I just personally wouldn&#8217;t trust anything that was said in the room, including the personality,&#8221; he added, appearing to suggest taking Trump at face value was beyond the pale.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST MEDIA AND CULTURE NEWS<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Maher shot back, &#8220;It&#8217;s not a matter of trusting it. It&#8217;s a matter of seeing it, a matter of experiencing it, a matter of knowing it. It&#8217;s like saying, &#8216;I don&#8217;t want this medical test because, you know, I don&#8217;t want to know.&#8217; I want to know.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&#038;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&#038;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Fair enough,&#8221; Penn replied.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> Nancie Geddes<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/maher-shreds-sean-penn-meeting-castro-chavez-after-actor-criticizes-hbo-hosts-trump-meeting\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! HBO host Bill Maher accused actor Sean Penn of being a hypocrite this week after the actor slammed the comedian\u2019s meeting with President Donald Trump. During the latest episode of Maher\u2019s &#8220;Club Random&#8221; podcast, the comedian and political commentator called out Penn\u2019s meetings with world dictators when<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":860624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1530,3939],"tags":[13148,8192],"class_list":{"0":"post-860623","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-maher","8":"category-meeting","9":"tag-maher","10":"tag-meeting"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}