Sean Penn Criticizes Plan to Remove Harvey Milk’s Name From Navy Ship

The U.S. Navy is reportedly preparing to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a Navy support ship christened in honor of the assassinated gay rights icon, an order that comes directly from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Now Sean Penn and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who both won Oscars for the 2008 biopic Milk, are hitting back at the plan.

“This is yet another move to distract and to fuel the culture wars that create division,” Black told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s meant to get us to react in ways that are self-centered so that we are further distanced from our brothers and sisters in equally important civil rights fights in this country. It’s divide and conquer.”

He continued, “These guys are idiots. Pete Hegseth does not seem like a smart man, a wise man, a knowledgeable man. He seems small and petty. I would love to introduce him to some LGBTQ folks who are warriors who have had to be warriors our entire life just to live our lives openly as who we are.”

Penn responded more tersely: “I’ve never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer.”

The Defense Department’s announcement coincided with the beginning of Pride month, which is not a coincidence. The Defense Department source who spoke with Military.com said the decision to rename the ship during Pride month was an intentional choice. According to a memo obtained by CBS News, the choice to rename the ship was part of an effort to reestablish “the warrior culture” within the military — a particular fixation of Hegseth.

Milk was not only one of the most prominent figures in the gay rights movement in the ‘70s and ‘80s, he was also a Korean War veteran. He was ousted from the Navy in 1955 after being accused of engaging in then-banned  homosexual activities. He was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 — the first gay man elected to the position — after years working as an activist and leader of the Castro neighborhood’s growing gay and lesbian community. As city supervisor, Milk worked closely with former Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, then also a city supervisor. Milk was assassinated along with former San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. 

Milk begins with Milk’s arrival in San Francisco and follows his political ascendancy, leading up to his assassination. The film was written by Black and directed by Gus Van Sant, and eventually earned eight Oscar nominations. Penn won Best Actor for his portrayal of the leader and activist while Black won Best Original Screenplay.

Rolling Stone‘s Peter Travers called the movie “a total triumph, brimming with humor, heart, sexual heat, political provocation and a crying need to stir things up, just like Harvey did. If there’s a better movie around this year, with more bristling purpose, I sure as hell haven’t seen it.” He added, “That Harvey’s questing spirit not only lives but soars in this movie is a gift from Sean Penn, who plays him for real instead of for show.”

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Black suggested taking inspiration from Milk himself. “Harvey Milk is an icon, a civil rights icon, and for good reason,” Black said. “That’s not going to change. Renaming a ship isn’t going to change that. If people are pissed off, good, be pissed off — but take the appropriate action. Do what Harvey Milk had said we need to do, and it’s about bringing back together the coalition of the ‘us’-es that helps move the pendulum of progress forward. Stop the infighting and lock arms again. That’s what Harvey would say.”