Mr Penn, who spoke at the debating society on January 20, had been helping with relief efforts in the aftermath of the fires which erupted across the Los Angeles area on January 7.
He founded CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) in response to the 2010 earthquakes in Haiti and the organisation, which has provided aid during natural disasters and during Covid, distributed cash vouchers, N95 masks and hygiene kits around LA.
Oscar winner Sean Penn at the Oxford Union (Image: Oxford Union) But the actor and director best known for his roles in Milk, Mystic River and 21 Grams was mocked by the Daily Mail for making a controversial comparison between the wildfires and the devastation caused by the atomic bomb.
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He told the Union: “Obviously this fire and firestorm are of historic proportions. It is very reminiscent of Hiroshima.”
Mr Penn previously faced a backlash online after he controversially compared the fires to the damage in the Middle East caused by the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Struggling to describe the burnt buildings and charred ground in an emotional interview with CNN, he said: “This is kind of been a worst case scenario concern of everyone in the area for a long time.
“It’s sort of, you know, it’s Gaza west up there.”