A room full of A-listers wasn’t going to stop Sean Penn from smoking a cigarette during the 2026 Golden Globes.
The infamous Cigfluencers Instagram account posted a photo of Penn, 65, puffing on a cigarette in The Beverly Hilton ballroom on Sunday, January 11.
“Sean Penn smoking INSIDE the Golden Globes venue!?” they captioned the post. “Incredible stuff happening here.”
Kate Hudson could be seen interacting with Penn’s One Battle After Another costar Leonardo DiCaprio in the photo. Penn didn’t appear to be a part of the conversation, rather focused on inhaling his coveted nicotine.
“Saw with own eyes,” Hacks star Hannah Einbinder commented on the post. She was seated at the HBO table with costar Jean Smart, who took home the Best Female Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy for her role in the show.
Best and Worst of the 2026 Golden Globes: Nikki Glaser’s OMG Jokes and More
Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Fritz appeared to post the original photo on X alongside the caption, “This can’t be legal.”
This can’t be legal. pic.twitter.com/hBp0D7O6jt
— Ben Fritz (@benfritz) January 12, 2026
Penn’s cigarette break took place after Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser took a few shots at him — and his looks — at the top of the evening.
“Sean Penn is also here, Colonel Lockjaw himself,” she started, referring to Penn’s character from One Battle After Another. “You’re the best. One of my favorite characters of all time. You’re such an original.”
She continued, “Everyone in this town is obsessed with looking younger. Meanwhile, Sean Penn is like what if I slowly morph into a sexy leather handbag. It’s hot. It’s good.”
Glaser didn’t stop there, calling Penn an “amazing actor” but also referencing his humanitarian work.
“I feel like a lot of actors talk the talk but Sean Penn will actually go to the places in the world that need help the most and he will do cocaine there, and I feel like we don’t celebrate that enough,” Glaser said. “Sean, I did get permission to tell that joke from your two best friends, Charlie Sheen and El Chapo. So, they say hi. Blame it on them.”
Penn took the jokes in stride, even laughing along as Glaser delivered her jabs. His seatmate, DiCaprio kept looking at Penn to see his reaction before laughing along as well.
2026 Golden Globes Winners List
Glaser’s quips came days after Penn addressed his cigarette smoking habits during an interview with W Magazine.
“Find something you love and let it kill you,” he said in a video posted to the magazine’s Instagram page on Tuesday, January 6, holding up a lit cigarette. “That’s not me, that’s [novelist Charles] Bukowski. That’s another mantra that gets rid of stress. Without stress, you can’t get cancer.”
He continued, “It’s like nitro and glycerin, the stress and the carcinogen. We’ll put heart disease on the shelf for now.”
Penn noted he was “older” in life when he started smoking.
“I was doing a lot of theater, and sometimes in class scenes, things like that,” he said. “I saw myself as an unaddictable person. Somerset Maugham has a quote, ‘Men are vain, particularly young men.’ So that was my vain arrogance in thinking that.”
He added, “I don’t try to quit anymore, I love it. I don’t recommend it for anybody, but it’s — I love it.”
