Sean Penn — a friend to the late Hugo Chavez and one of the most liberal stars in Hollywood — will be surrounded by top Republicans next Sunday at Cipriani 42nd Street.
The Oscar-winning boyfriend of Oscar-winning Charlize Theron was lured to join Govs. Chris Christie (New Jersey) and Rick Perry (Texas) at the Second Annual Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala.
Penn will be presented the Champion of Jewish Justice award, as Christie and Perry — both on the short list of potential presidential candidates — suck up to potential campaign contributors.
The event was organized by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, author of “Kosher Sex,” “The Michael Jackson Tapes” and 22 other books, to mark his 25th year in the rabbinate.
The hosts are two conservatives: casino king Sheldon Adelson, who committed $70 million to Republican candidates in 2012, and hedge-fund manager Michael Steinhardt.
Asked why Penn would be consorting with the enemy, his publicist told me, “Sean Penn comfortably and happily communicates with people of differing points of view all the time. In fact, he has done it incredibly effectively on behalf of the people of Haiti for years.”
Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, who met Boteach as a fellow student at Oxford University, will be one of the few other Democrats there. Booker is picking up the Champion of Human Spirit award.
And Boteach’s old radio producer Scott Pellegrino, currently advising swells on their art buying, will be on hand so that Penn has one more lefty to talk to.
Pellegrino, who met Penn years ago at an Art Basel Miami dinner for Julian Schnabel, said, “We had a great talk about his activism in Haiti. He really knows his stuff and he really cares. He’s no posing corporate shill like Bono.”
Tickets to the fund-raiser start at $750, but there will be entertainment by Yaakov Shwekey, described on the invite as “The King Of Jewish Music.”