As firefighters, first responders and others work hard to battle wildfires raging across California, celebrities including actors are joining in relief efforts Sean Penn and his aid organization CORE.

But during a recent interview Penn had with Anderson Cooper On CNN, the 64-year-old made a controversial comparison between the fires and another ongoing humanitarian crisis, sparking backlash from people.

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During Penn and Cooper’s conversation, the two men discussed the fires and how devastating they were, leading Penn to draw a comparison to the war in Gaza.

“It’s kind of, you know, it’s Gaza West up there,” he said. “We know there will be wildfires in this area… so people choose to live in this area. But for the people who live especially in Pacific Palisades and Altadena, etc., this is so unexpected.”

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Some people took issue with Penn comparing the fires to the situation in Gaza, and one voiced his opinion in the comments of Cooper’s clip, saying, “What a ridiculous comparison. One is a war zone due to Hamas’s genocidal massacre of Israeli citizens. The other is a natural disaster made worse by incompetent politicians.”

Another person who criticized the comment wrote on X: “Turn on CNN Sean Penn: Palisades is Gaza West. Turn off CNN immediately. WTF. Who lets these people speak?”

“Sean Penn compares the Los Angeles wildfires to Gaza. “It’s terrible what happened in LA, but it doesn’t compare to a war zone and the atrocities in Gaza,” someone else said of the comparison.

Later in Penn’s conversation with Cooper, he talked about how he’s helping with the relief effort and his thoughts on the destruction caused by the fires.

“If there are winds like ours, I don’t think humanity has found a solution to it. Mother Nature is bigger and more powerful than us. “So many people we all know and care about have lost their homes,” he said.

Penn and Ann Lee CORE was founded in response to the Haiti earthquake in 2010, but has provided assistance during many other natural disasters and other emergencies in recent years.

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