Spicoli's Sympathy for the Ayatollahs

It's either Senn Penn is sypathetic with the mad mullahs or he didn't want to be associated with another ghastly box-office bomb. I'd say it's the former as he has no shortage of movies that don't make any money, critical acclaim notwithstanding.

DID Sean Penn's sympathy for Iran's ayatollahs help cripple the box-office prospects of a recent Harvey Weinstein movie?

Sources say Penn, who traveled to Iran in 2005 and sent wordy dispatches to the San Francisco Chronicle, demanded to be removed from "Crossing Over" because he objected to an "honor killing" scene of an Iranian woman slain by her brother.

The Weinstein Company flick on the immigration issue, budgeted at $20 million, is a multi-plotted drama, like "Traffic" and "Crash," starring Harrison Ford and Ashley Judd. Although Penn shot scenes playing an enforcement agent, sources told Page Six he insisted he be cut from the movie, which has grossed a paltry $292,254 since its release three weeks ago. The Post's Lou Lumenick panned its stereotypical characters who "spout tin-eared dialogue."

Penn's rep told us: "Sean's portion of the film was somewhat experimental as it had a mystical quality that the rest of the film did not have. His not being in the final edit was a creative decision of which he was aware."

Mystical quality? He thinks highly of himself.

Ironic that a guy who won an Oscar for playing a gay character is silent about Iran's treatment of gays.