Sean Penn’s ‘El Chapo’ Interview ‘Grotesque,’ Says Rubio

Florida senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio denounced the interview of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, calling it “grotesque.”

Speaking on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” Senator Rubio talked about the now infamous interview of El Chapo conducted by Hollywood actor and director Sean Penn. “I find it grotesque,” the senator stated. “If one of these American actors who have benefited from the greatness of this country who have made money from our free enterprise system, want to go fawn over a criminal and drug trafficker in their interviews, they have a Constitutional right to do it.”  Penn’s interview with El Chapo appeared last week in Rolling Stone magazine.

Breitbart Texas’ Sylvia Longmire reported on the possible legal issues that Penn could be facing as the Mexican government looks into the circumstances surrounding the interview. Longmire compared and contrasted the interview conducted by Penn with one conducted by ABC journalist John Miller who interviewed Osama Bin Laden in 1998.

While Senator Rubio seemed to indicate Penn was within the law, Longmire’s article points out why that may not be true. “In Sean Penn’s case, he was not a journalist credentialed by Rolling Stone,” Longmire wrote. She concluded that Penn is not necessarily afforded the same journalistic protections that another journalist, like Miller, might be entitled to.

Penn’s interview appears to be less about news and more about perpetuating the myth and narco-lore of El Chapo, perhaps for the purpose of making a profit from a movie, Breitbart Texas’ Ildefonso Ortiz reported. “Many in Mexico and now Penn, view Guzman Loera as a benign Robin Hood type figure, when in fact he is responsible for the majority of the blood that has been shed in Mexico,” Ortiz wrote.

Senator Rubio did appear to find some humor in the fact that Mexican authorities appeared to use the process of setting up the interview as a tool in finding and capturing the most wanted man in Mexico. Rubio said he thought it was “fantastic.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.

Related Articles:

• Sean Penn’s Meeting with ‘El Chapo’ Reminiscent of ABC’s Miller and Bin Laden Interview, But Legally Questionable

• Sean Penn Under Investigation in Mexico Over Mass Murderer ‘El Chapo’ Stunt

• Sean Penn Interviews El Chapo for Rolling Stone… SHOCK: Magazine Gives Fugitive Drug Lord Editorial Control

• ‘El Chapo’ Wanted to Make a Movie, Authorities Initially Wrong on Capture Details

• GRAPHIC CONTENT: Massive Bloodshed in Battle to Capture El Chapo

• Border Congressman Demands Extradition of El Chapo and Mexican Narco-Governors

• ‘El Chapo’ and Extradition to U.S.A

• El Chapo Recaptured in Mexico