14 DAY TRIAL // Few are the celebrities in Hollywood who handle themselves with the utmost grace when confronted with dozens of paparazzi, especially when on their own spare time, like going out to lunch or shopping. Sean Penn, it seems, is not one of them, as he has just been slapped with battery charges by a pap who was repeatedly kicked and hit as he was trying to take his picture the other day, TMZ informs.
Sean Penn, as fans must know, doesn’t like or encourage this kind of publicity that paparazzi provide and on which many stars we see today in magazines and on TV rely heavily. As a matter of fact, two of the nicknames that have stuck with him throughout the years are “press-hater” and “paparazzi-punchbag,” and, in all fairness, Penn has earned them by “working” hard, if that’s a term that can be applied to his propensity towards getting physical with paps.
“Sean Penn went ballistic on a paparazzo this afternoon – and we’ve learned the photog just filed a police report against the actor. The cameraman – Jordan Dawes (not a TMZ guy) – is accusing Penn of battery after a confrontation near the Brentwood Country Mart in Los Angeles, where Sean had just eaten lunch. Penn was seen kicking and hitting the photographer on a side-street multiple times before leaving. Sean’s rep had no comment.” TMZ writes.
A photo of the actor kicking a guy on a street has also surfaced, and it was reportedly taken on the occasion of the altercation. It has, as expected, given ample room for debate on the right paparazzi have to invade someone’s privacy like that, even if they always do it under the cover of being on public grounds. The recent incident has also brought back on the table the issue of whether celebrities too have any right to complain of the excessive media attention showered on them, since they know it comes as part of their job. At the moment, the jury is still out on this one.
Although Penn is unlikely to make any comment regarding the battery allegations, word in the media has it the matter will be solved quietly through a settlement and will never get to be played out in court.