Here's what you need to know about Sean Penn's interview with 'El Chapo'
Actor Sean Penn secured an exclusive interview with infamous Mexican drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. The article, which Rolling Stone published Saturday, took place while El Chapo was on the run after his July escape from a maximum security prison.
El Chapo was captured Friday and returned to the same prison. Penn, Mexican actress Kate del Castillo, and any other actors and producers that met with El Chapo are under investigation, The New York Times reports a Mexican official said Saturday.
Penn wrote that del Castillo facilitated a seven-hour in-person introduction between him and El Chapo in September. When his plans for a more formal, two-day sitdown were thwarted in October, he sent El Chapo questions via Blackberry messaging that the druglord responded to on video.
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Here are some highlights from the story, which, in a breach of widely accepted journalism ethics, El Chapo was able to review before publication, according to an editor's note:
On Donald Trump: "Ah! Mi amigo!"
On if he, a person who once claimed to have killed thousands, is a violent person: "No, sir."
On how he'd describe himself: "It's a person who's not looking for problems in any way."
Read more of Penn's meandering, generous piece here.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
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