Sean Penn is warning Netflix about the dangers of airing an upcoming docuseries, The Day I Met El Chapo: The Kate del Castillo Story, on the streaming service.
The 57-year-old actor delivered a statement to the New York Times via his lawyer, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., in which he says that Netflix is “hereby on notice that blood will be on their hands if this film causes bodily harm.”
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The three-part series chronicles the biographical account of Mexican actress Kate del Castillo who, alongside Penn, met with infamous drug kingpin Joaquรญn Guzmรกn Loera, also known as El Chapo in October 2015.
After the crime lord was arrested, Penn famously wrote about the encounter in a Rolling Stone article. The Netflix series bills itself as del Castillo’s side of the story, according to Hollywood Reporter.
The docuseries will be airing never-before-seen footage and new details of what led to the meeting.
The New York Times report explains that Penn’s letter was sent a week ago and the claim was made in the document that the Oscar winner would be in danger if changes were not made to the Netflix series.
The letter claims that the docuseries implied that Penn played a part in helping the authorities to have El Chapo captured.
“It is reprehensible that, in their ongoing, relentless efforts to gain additional attention and publicity, Ms. del Castillo and her team (who have zero firsthand knowledge) have sought to create this profoundly false, foolish and reckless narrative,” Mark Fabiani, a spokesperson for Penn, told the Times.
“The notion that Mr. Penn or anyone on his behalf alerted D.O.J. to the trip is a complete fabrication and baldfaced lie. It never happened, nor would there have been any reason for it to have happened,” he continued.
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Netflix has addressed the issue in a statement.
“Sean Penn was given the opportunity on multiple occasions to participate in The Day I Met El Chapo and did not do so,” said the streamer in a statement.
“The events surrounding the now-infamous meeting have been well covered, including by Penn himself in Rolling Stone and his many public comments since. The only new ground we’re breaking with this series is to give Kate a chance to finally tell her side of this stranger-than-fiction story.”
