Sean Penn Calls His ‘Rolling Stone’ Article On El Chapo A ‘Failure’

“My article has failed,” Sean Penn told the CBS host, Charlie Rose, in an interview to be broadcast Sunday on 60 Minutes. 

Penn claims that the capture of El Chapo has completely distracted the masses from his article. His goal was to shed light on the war on drugs.

“I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the war on drugs,” Penn said.

Penn also noted that his interview and El Chapo’s capture had nothing to do with each other.

“There is this myth about the visit that we made, my colleagues and I with El Chapo, that it was — as the Attorney General of Mexico is quoted — ‘essential’ to his capture,” Penn said. “We had met with him many weeks earlier… on October 2nd, in a place nowhere near where he was captured.”

Penn also said that he believes the Mexican government is behind the release of the information to put Penn in jeopardy.

“Are you fearful for your life?” Rose asked.

“No,” Penn said.

Penn and Rolling Stone also took the blame for allowing Guzman to review Penn’s article before it was sent to press. Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner defended the magazine’s decision to give El Chapo what he called “story approval,” saying “it was a small price to pay.”

Penn commented on the backlash he got from other journalists claiming he shouldn’t have gotten the access he did. “At the same time, you know, when…’journalists’ who want to say that I’m not a journalist — well, I want to see the license that says that they’re a journalist.”

Penn added he thinks he was able to get access to the drug lord because he’s not a traditional journalist, and he doesn’t think any traditional journalist would have had success.

Watch the full story this Sunday on 60 Minutes.