America: From a Fallen Child Star to the Head of the University of the West

Chapter 95

The next morning at seven o'clock, Sean was woken up by his phone vibrating. It was a message from Matthew: "Mr. Pan, check Twitter. The three videos Emily and the others edited have gone viral."

Sean, still half asleep, clicked on the link.

The first video was a clip of "George the Homeless," captioned: "I don't need God to tell me that helping a suffering person is the right thing to do." Within eight hours of its release, it had 4.2 million views and 370,000 likes.

He felt that pairing him with a DJ with an ancient Chinese style would be more fitting.

The second video is a clip responding to questions about death, captioned: "My belief: to cherish this life and to trust people." It has garnered 3.8 million views and 290,000 likes.

This part is a bit like a cult leader, and could be paired with "The New Creation," but Charlie Kirk should be shot more than him!

The third video is about the separation of church and state, with the caption: "Faith should be a free choice, not a legal obligation." It has 3.5 million views and 250,000 likes.

There's not much to say about that; the overall presentation is alright.

Regardless of Sean's personal opinion, each video has tens of thousands of comments. He also glanced through them and found that positive feedback accounted for about 60%, negative criticism for 30%, and neutral discussion for 10%.

It can only be said that there are many supporters and many opponents.

More notably, some influential accounts have begun to share these videos.

In addition to Musk's tweet that sparked heated discussion, several podcasters, columnists, and academics with millions of followers also joined the discussion (and hype).

Of course, they all seemed to be taking this debate seriously.

If they were still on the other side of the ocean, Sean would definitely complain: Why are these foreigners discussing charlatans again?

But in retrospect, this issue does indeed have some power.

After reading a few more comments and resisting the urge to block them, Sean replied to Matthew: "The data is good. Tell Emily and Sarah to proceed with phase two as planned. Also, Matthew, have you sent out the job postings?"

"Sent out. We've received over thirty resumes; we'll start screening them today!"

"Great, that's very energetic!"

Sean put down his phone and went into the bathroom for a shower. The warm water washed over his body, gradually clearing his mind. The victory in the debate was just the beginning; the real challenge lay in transforming this fleeting attention into sustained support.

This requires organization, strategy, and a bit of luck.

Oh no, more than just a little—

When he came downstairs, he found everyone else already in the living room. Kelly was struggling with a schedule on the whiteboard, Vincent was flipping through a stack of legal documents, and Rachel was frowning at her laptop screen.

"What's wrong?" Sean asked. "How many are there?"

“Sean,” Rachel looked up, her expression grave, “The New York Post just published a report. The headline is ‘Sean Penn’s dissolute past: A dubious transformation from Hollywood party animal to political saint.’”

The air seemed to freeze for a moment.

"What's the content?" Vincent asked. "It's not going to be one of those clichés, is it? Like, Pan acting like a diva or something?"

"Yeah, that's probably how it is," Sean said with a wry smile.

“No! It’s much worse,” Rachel said, glancing at Sean as she quickly skimmed through the article. “The article lists various parties you attended during your Hollywood years, citing anonymous sources who claim you were an alcoholic, a drug abuser, and had a chaotic personal life. It specifically mentions several parties attended by minors. Although the article doesn’t directly accuse you of any illegal activities, the wording is highly suggestive.”

"Is there any concrete evidence?" Kelly asked.

If it's not on record, then it's hard to say.

The problem is that Sean is a natural gossip, and it's really not good if he gets involved with gossip.

"There are some photos of Sean posing with a group of young people at a nightclub, and they do look quite young—" Rachel's brow furrowed more deeply as she spoke, then she looked at Sean. "This can't be true, can it?"

She still trusted Sean, but if he did something wrong when he was infatuated, there was nothing she could do. This wasn't something that could be fixed by making a few PPT presentations or holding a few press conferences.

Even Kelly narrowed his eyes: "I remember Richard mentioned this when he met with Pan back then. I didn't expect them to play this card so quickly!"

Is it a case of running out of ideas, or a preemptive strike?

Furthermore, although Harris Crane and Charlie Kirk are both against abortion, they may not necessarily be on the same side; there may be other people behind them, and it's possible that they have nothing to do with either of them.

Kelly, however, still looked at Sean with some doubt. "Kid, you need to watch your image. I don't care about what happened before—"

"Okay, Kelly! I'm really innocent. I like women older than me, okay? Having sex with a minor? Only a beast like Epstein would do that!"

After saying that, Sean took Rachel's computer and quickly read the article.

Clearly, this is a typical defamatory report: it makes extensive use of vague expressions such as "it is said," "according to sources," and "saw it," and pairs it with a few real but out-of-context photos to create an effect of "it is very likely, though not confirmed."

The article concludes, "Mr. Sean Penn now presents himself as a new political figure concerned with social justice and pursuing moral truth. But voters have the right to know whether this candidate has truly broken with his dissolute past, or if this is merely a carefully orchestrated performance."

"Harris Crane is quick on the uptake," Sean said coldly after a moment of silence.

"It wasn't necessarily orchestrated directly by him," Kelly stated, "but it's definitely related to him. These kinds of reports take time to prepare; photos and sources need to be collected and contacted beforehand. They were already prepared, just waiting for the right moment to release it."

"The debate just ended yesterday, and today this scandal has broken," Matthew said worriedly. "The timing is too coincidental."

Sean handed the laptop back to Rachel, his expression calming. "Ahem, as expected. Carter, what can our legal team do?"

"We could send a lawyer's letter demanding corrections, but I think that would be ineffective. Sometimes sending a lawyer's letter makes people think we're desperate," Vincent said. "So I think we need to respond proactively. Deny the specific allegations while clarifying the facts, then shift the focus, emphasizing that this is a political smear campaign, a jealous counterattack against our debate victory."

"But some of the photos are real," Rachel said. "We can't deny that you attended those parties."

Even he himself couldn't deny it!

“There’s no need to deny it,” Sean said. “We can admit: yes, I made mistakes and unwise decisions when I was young. But that’s in the past. What matters is what I learned from it and who I am now.”

He paused, then looked at the crowd: "Remember what I said in yesterday's debate? I was thinking about the things I've done in my life—some things I'm proud of, some things I'm ashamed of." Now is the time to put that into practice. Rather than running away, be honest.

"Not again?" Matthew asked in surprise. "Haven't you used this trick before?"

Yes, Sean did try that at the very beginning. But this time he's doing it differently because he has a huge following.

After a few seconds of thought, Kelly said, "It's a high-risk, high-reward strategy. But it might work. We know that American voters love redemption stories, regardless of their religious beliefs. The key is to appear genuine, not to read a script."

Sincerity—that's exactly what Sean excels at!

Although he does not possess similar qualities—

"Just do it! Just do it!" Sean said. "Rachel, you draft a statement with the tone of acknowledging mistakes, emphasizing growth, and condemning the smear campaign." Matthew, you launch the #GrowingUpStories# campaign on social media.

The topic encourages netizens to share their past mistakes and lessons learned, shifting the focus from personal experiences to universal human nature. Mr. Carter, please contact any individuals potentially involved in that report to see if you can find anyone willing to testify on our behalf.

"And those two girls," Vincent reminded him. He had tried to contact them after his conversation with Sean, but without much success. At least they had come forward now. "It would be helpful if they were willing to clarify things publicly."

"Yes, don't contact them first," Sean said. "I'll handle it."

His "friend" Green promised to provide intelligence and help him with some public relations matters, and now it's time for him to deliver on his promise!