George Clooney Responds To White House Criticism Of His Acting Ability Following Trade Of War Crimes Charges
EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Oscar winner George Clooney has responded to a catty White House statement following the actor/director/producer/writer’s public accusation that Donald Trump committed a war crime after the U.S. President wrote a threat against Iran that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung issued a statement to The Independent with the retort: “The only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability.”
Clooney, who made his war crime charges in a speech to high school students in Italy, has taken proper umbrage.
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In a statement to Deadline directed at the Trump White House, Clooney said: “Families are losing their loved ones. Children have been incinerated. The world’s economy is on a knife’s edge. This is a time for vigorous debate at the highest levels. Not for infantile name calling. I’ll start. A war crime is alleged ‘when there is intent to physically destroy a nation,’ as defined by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute. What is the administration’s defense? [besides calling me a failed actor which I happily agree with having starred in Batman and Robin?].”
Trump said he was postponing by two weeks his threats against Iran as the countries continue talks designed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Clooney was reacting playfully in his statement to Deadline but was deadly serious in his recent public comments. “Some say Donald Trump is fine. But if anyone says he wants to end a civilization, that’s a war crime,” he said in the speech.
As for his accolade bona fides, Clooney won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2006 for Syriana, and won the Oscar Best Picture for producing Argo in 2016. He has been nominated eight times over his career.
