Sean Penn hates Haiti haters

Mar 5, 2010, 9:30 GMT

Sean Penn hopes anyone who criticises the work he has done in Haiti dies of "rectal cancer".

The 'Milk' star - who brought 11 doctors to the earthquake-hit nation after establishing the private Jenkins-Penn Haitian Relief Organization in January with his businesswoman friend Diana Jenkins - says people who believe he is only in the country to raise his public profile are just wrong.

Speaking about his critics, he said: "I guess I've been so away from it all so I haven't had an awful lot of time to pay attention to them. You know, do I hope that those people die screaming of rectal cancer? Yeah. You know, but I'm not going to spend a lot of energy on it."

In an interview which airs this weekend on the 'Sunday Morning' show in the US, the Oscar-winning actor also revealed it was important his children - daughter Dylan, 18, and son Hopper Jack, 16 - visited Haiti with him to see first-hand the devastating effects of the earthquakes.

He explained: "Oh, they're gonna help. I think that they've had the experience, as I have, that the first person served by service is the server. You know, there's nobody in the world that isn't looking for a kind of purpose in life, and tangible purpose is the most immediately recognisable. You know, there's no time that you're over there, there's not something to do to lend a hand."

The 49-year-old star - who was recently revealed to have saved the lives of a woman and child trapped and injured beneath a collapsed building in Haiti - has raised more than $1 million in funds for the Caribbean island. He said: "We were able to get X-ray machines, and ventilators, and do all kinds of things."