(Well, Mistake #1 was obviously raping that girl with his friend. That's the only mistake that really matters here. Or running a non-rape train, if you go with that story.)

Put out one press release. Something like, "In the past, I did things I'm not proud of, but I was exonerated from the accusations. I believe that decision was just. Hence forth, I'd like to put the focus on my film, which I believe tells a very important story blah blah blah."

Then, just like Woody does every time a movie comes out, every time someone even *tries* to bring it up, someone asks you an unsavory question, some protester screams at you, you don't respond. Or if you do, you say, "I addressed this issue in my press release on date X, I'll refer you to that. I'm here to discuss the movie." And you'll have to say it over. And over. And over. And over. And over.

But eventually, just like with Woody, 99% of the media will give up. They don't ask Sean Penn about Madonna or Josh Brolin about his wife or Morgan Freeman about his granddaughter or literally any other celebrity who has some awful unsavory shit off-screen, alleged or proven. Why? Because those guys simply Will. Not. Talk. About It. And if you give them nothing new, then they have nothing new to say, and those units stop moving, so the question stops getting asked.

So you're saying, "Why should he apologize?" when that's not the question you should be asking. The question you should be asking is "Why is he far enough into an interview on this conversation that he even has that question presented to him, and why in the fuck would he answer it?"