IF you haven’t already heard, Wyclef Jean is running for president of Haiti in the country’s elections this year.

Yes, there are many who see this as a political stunt, akin to Arnie’s run for Governor of California, but many forget that once you get the job, there’s no turning back. But naysayer Sean Penn—who co-founded the J/P Haitian Relief Organization and has been running a 55,000 person tent camp in the Carribbean country—is suspicious” of Wyclef’s intentions, calling him an “opportunist” among many other things.

Talking to CNN on Friday, Sean said Wyclef’s run for president “is the last thing in the world that Haiti needs”.

“Right now, I worry that this is a campaign that is more about a vision of flying around the world talking to people, it’s certainly not about the youth drafting him,” added the 49-year-old. “I would be quite sure that this was an influence of corporations here in the United States and private individuals that may well have capitalized on his will to see himself flying around the world doing that.”

“This is somebody who’s going to receive an enormous amount of his support, if he continues this campaign, from the United States. I have to say, I’m very suspicious of it, simply because he, as an ambassador-at-large, has been virtually silent. For those of us in Haiti, he has been a non-presence.”

“I want to see someone who’s really, really willing to sacrifice for their country and not just someone who I personally saw with a vulgar entourage of vehicles that demonstrated a wealth in Haiti that, in context, I felt, a very obscene demonstration,” described Sean.

And the final blow: “One of the reasons I don’t know much about Wyclef Jean is I haven’t seen or heard anything in these last six months that I’ve been in Haiti. I think he’s an important voice, I hope he doesn’t sacrifice that voice by taking the eye off the very devastating realities off the ground and the very different strategic future it’s got in putting itself back together.”

Ouch.

Of course, Wyclef wasn’t about to stay silent through this political debate, albeit one that precluded him in the first place (are you listening, CNN?).

The former Fugees rapper responded to Sean’s accusations on The Gayle King Show.

“The first thing I’d like to say to Sean Penn is that the area which he operates in Haiti is one area in particular,” said Wyclef in response to the claims of “non-presence” in his country for the past six months.

“He hasn’t seen me for six months—I’ve been going to Haiti for over five years…I am not absent in Haiti, maybe the tent city you’re in, maybe I’m absent in that.”

“My country is not a city of tents, meaning I can’t use the excuse of people living in tents to say that I’m going to make Haiti a better place. I would like to tell Sean Penn I do not react on emotions when it comes to the Haitian people. I do not have to sacrifice my life and live inside of the tents to prove I am for the Haitian people,” added the 37-year-old musician.

And his last words for Sean?

“I have sweat in my blood.”

Maybe one-time Fugee and Wyclef’s cousin Pras can enilighten us to what that means, although he has made clear his alliances: “I endorse Michel Martelly as the next president of Haiti because he is the most competent candidate for the job.”

So you’re choosing the other musician-turned-political candidate? Double ouch.

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