Sean Penn has said he will melt down his Oscars if Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is denied the opportunity to speak during Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Oscars co-host Amy Schumer said earlier this week said that she proposed to organisers of the ceremony that he should be able to appear via video – but it not clear if this has been agreed.

The Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker has also encouraged the acting community to boycott Hollywood’s biggest night if organisers object to allowing Mr Zelensky to feature in the biggest night in Hollywood’s calendar.

He added the decision would be “the most obscene moment in all of Hollywood history”.

Penn, who is also the co-founder of the Core Response aid charity, has met with Mr Zelensky on several occasions and described the Ukrainian leader as “an incredibly moving human being”.

Speaking to CNN from Poland, Penn, who is currently making a documentary on the war in Ukraine, said: “There is nothing greater that the Academy Awards could do than to give him [Zelensky] that opportunity to talk to all of us.

“It is my understanding that a decision has been made not to do it. That is not me commenting on whether or not President Zelensky had wanted to.

“If the Academy has elected not to do it, if presenters have elected not to pursue the leadership in Ukraine who are taking bullets and bombs for us, along with the Ukrainian children that they are trying to protect, than I think that every single one of those people and every bit of that decision will have been the most obscene moment in all of Hollywood history.”

Penn added that he hoped the Academy would not deny Mr Zelensky a platform but encouraged everyone involved to boycott the show if this was the case.

Penn has won two Academy Awards for best actor in 2004 for his performance of a grief-stricken father in Mystic River and in 2009 for his role Harvey Milk in the biopic Milk.

Discussing her pitch for Mr Zelensky to make an appearance during the show, Mrs Schumer said: “I am not afraid to go there, but it’s not me producing the Oscars.”