Overview
- Photos and broadcast clips showed the 65-year-old actor with a lit cigarette at his Beverly Hilton table during the Jan. 11 ceremony.
- Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Fritz posted a close-up photo on X with the caption, “This can’t be legal,” amplifying the moment online.
- Vanity Fair relayed an attendee’s account that Penn lit up at his table, and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder commented that she saw it herself.
- California public health guidance says smoking is prohibited in hotels, with a limited exemption only for integral onstage use in theatrical productions.
- Representatives for Penn, the Golden Globes, and the Beverly Hilton had not issued public responses, as One Battle After Another notched five wins including Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy.