Actress Kate del Castillo slams Sean Penn over details in El Chapo story that 'did not occur'

It was a seemingly inconsequential tweet that brought together Mexican actress Kate del Castillo and the notorious drug lord El Chapo. "Mr. Chapo, wouldn't it be cool if you started trafficking with the good? ... Come on señor, you would be the hero of heroes. Let's traffic with love, you know how," she posted in January of 2012.

While a relative unknown in the States, del Castillo made a name for herself in Mexico for her hugely popular role as a drug trafficker in The Queen of the South; both her tweet and her role earned her the attention and respect of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the drug lord known as "El Chapo." Not long after her post, representatives for El Chapo got in touch with del Castillo about giving her the rights to El Chapo's life story, with the hope of del Castillo starring in the ensuing film.

Which is where Sean Penn got involved.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Penn authored a 10,000 word essay for Rolling Stone earlier this year about traveling with del Castillo to meet El Chapo — an essay that was widely criticized for being both totally insane and ethically dubious. While previously only Sean Penn's side of the story was available, del Castillo has since spoken to The New Yorker, raising further questions about Penn's motivations:

That's not the only discrepancy — and, what's more, Penn allegedly hadn't even been transparent about being on the trip to work on an article in the first place. Read the entire scoop in The New Yorker.