Shy Sean Penn finds humility in Haiti

We end on a personal note today. A while back, word came through on the LiS hotline that Sean Penn was in Haiti (above, with Ban Ki-Moon) and had banned Twitter because he was so sick of attention-seeking visiting celebrities Twittering photos of themselves with cute little brown children (so thin!) instead of, you know, doing anything. LiS was extremely taken with this story: a celebrity working for charity who appeared more focused on the charity than the publicity potential? It's like encountering a Republican US senator who has never visited www.hotrentboys.com. So we asked if we could have more details and Sean's people, to use the medical term, "flipped out". Penn didn't want any media attention for his hard work in Haiti. As Groucho Marx feels about club membership rules, so LiS feels about celebrities who shun publicity and so, we loved him even more. Until this week. In Vanity Fair, none other than Penn is talking for 12 pages about Haiti as well as such undistracting topics as his ex-wife, actress Robin Wright. "[Haiti has] returned to me something I lost – my humility," says Sean, a few pages after posing like a war general with Lietenant General Ken Keen. LiS salutes General Penn's undoubted good work in Haiti, but was this what the flipping out was about, Sean? Giving Vanity Fair first bite of the publicity pie? Oh, Sean, Sean, Sean. You've let Haiti down, you've let yourself down, but most importantly, you've let Lost in Showbiz down.