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Sean Penn’s Debut Satirical Novel Questions the #MeToo Movement: ‘Is This a Toddler’s Crusade?’

Penn’s book, "Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff," also takes aim at Donald Trump by calling him a President "in need of an intervention."
Sean PennHaiti Takes Root Benefit Dinner and Auction, Arrivals, New York, USA - 05 May 2017
Sean Penn
Erik Pendzich/REX/Shutterstock

Sean Penn‘s debut novel “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff” doesn’t hit bookshelves until the end of the month, but excerpts from the satirical book have been released by numerous media outlets, including Deadline. The novel reportedly includes commentary on current events such as Donald Trump and the #MeToo movement, plus a section that blatantly references Penn’s involvement with notorious drug lord El Chapo.

The novel is inspired by the gonzo storytelling of Hunter S. Thompson. The plot concerns the titular Bob Honey, a “modern American man, entrepreneur and contract killer who sells septic tanks to Jehovah’s Witnesses and arranges pyrotechnic displays for foreign dictators.” Honey decides its time to retaliate against the intelligence service employing him as an assassin.

Through the character, Penn is able to cover a wide range of talking points. During one part of the book, Honey writes a letter to U.S. President Mr. Landlord, who was elected by “many wonderful American people” and “Russians, too.”

“Your position is an asterisk accepted as literally as your alternative facts,” Honey’s letter to the president reads, clearly referencing Trump. “Though the office will remain real, you never were nor will be. A million women so dwarfed your penis-edency on the streets of Washington and around the world on the day of your piddly inauguration. You are not simply a president of impeachment, you are a man in need of an intervention.”

More controversial is a part of the novel featuring a poem in which Honey reportedly questions the #MeToo movement: “Is this a toddler’s crusade? Reducing rape, slut-shaming and suffrage to reckless child’s play? A platform for accusation impunity? Due process has lost its sheen?.” The poem refers to the #MeToo movement as “an infantilising term of the day.”

Head over to Deadline for more takeaways from the novel’s excerpts. “Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff” will be available to purchase starting March 27.

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