Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black Slam MAGA Defense Secretary for Stripping Harvey Milk’s Name from Navy Ship

Legendary actor Sean Penn and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black—best known for their work on the film Milk—are speaking out forcefully against MAGA-aligned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to strip the name of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk from a U.S. Navy ship.

“This is yet another move to distract and fuel the culture wars that create division,” Black told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s meant to provoke self-centered reactions that isolate us from our allies in other critical civil rights struggles. It’s divide and conquer.”

The backlash follows a leaked Pentagon memo revealing Hegseth's directive to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a rare and symbolic move widely seen as a slap at the LGBTQ community. The memo cites alignment with former President Donald Trump’s push to “re-establish the warrior culture”—a rationale critics are calling a smokescreen for bigotry.

Penn, who portrayed Milk in the 2008 biopic and won an Oscar for the role, didn’t hold back.

“I’ve never before seen a Secretary of Defense so aggressively demote himself to the rank of Chief PETTY Officer,” Penn wrote in an email to The Hollywood Reporter.

“These guys are idiots,” Black added. “Pete Hegseth does not strike me as smart, wise, or informed. He seems small and petty. I’d love to introduce him to LGBTQ people who have had to be warriors just to live their lives openly.”

Milk, a former Navy serviceman during the Korean War and a trailblazing gay rights advocate, was assassinated in 1978. His legacy spans far beyond his role as an activist.

“There’s a lot that Harvey did before my film even starts,” Black noted. “He worked on Wall Street, on Broadway, taught school, and served in the Navy. He excelled at everything he did—including his service.”

Black also reflected on Milk’s inclusive philosophy.

“Harvey always said, ‘This is not about ego, this is about the us-es.’ And he wasn’t just talking about gay people,” Black explained. “He meant racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, seniors priced out of their homes, union workers struggling to feed their families. These were the ‘us-es’—this was the coalition.”

“Harvey Milk is a civil rights icon, and renaming a ship isn’t going to change that,” Black continued. “If this move makes people angry—good. Be angry. But then channel that anger. Rebuild the coalition of the ‘us-es’ and push forward together. That’s what Harvey would’ve told us to do.”