Republican President Donald Trump lashed out at George Clooney after the Hollywood A-lister commented on 60 Minutes about how the U.S. government loathes the press regardless of their political allegiance.
Clooney, 63, was on the news magazine broadcast program to promote the Broadway production of Good Night, and Good Luck, adapted from the 2005 historical drama film of the same name, which he directed and co-wrote.
In Good Night, and Good Luck, Clooney makes his Broadway debut as protagonist Edward R. Murrow, a CBS journalist and host of the news program See It Now.
The story focuses on the conflict between Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy during the early 1950s era of the Red Scare when McCarthy aggressively led anti-Communist investigations in the U.S.
During a table read for the play currently in rehearsals, Clooney touched on politicians and journalists clashing and how the importance of the free press couldn't be more relevant today.
“When the other three estates fail, when the judiciary and the executive and the legislative branches fail us, the fourth estate has to succeed,” Clooney emphasized.
He continued making a point about the current unsettling climate for the news media.
“ABC has just settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration. And CBS News is in the process…" he said, referring to Trump's $20 billion lawsuit against CBS.
In October 2024, the then-presidential candidate made the unfounded allegation that the network's 60 Minutes program engaged in election interference by deceptively editing an interview with then-Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris to favor her more.
CBS has since filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
However, the network's parent company, Paramount, is currently in the process of trying to close a merger deal, which requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which happens to be led by Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee.
Clooney continued:
"We’re seeing this idea of using government to scare or fine or use corporations—to make journalists smaller.”
He added:
“Governments don’t like the freedom of the press. They never have."
"And that goes for whether you are a conservative or a liberal or whatever side you’re on. They don’t like the press.”
Here's the full interview.
- YouTubeyoutu.be
Following the March 23 airing of the 60 Minutes interview with Clooney, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to attack the press and Clooney, writing:
"Why would the now highly discredited ’60 Minutes’ be doing a total ‘puff piece’ on George Clooney, a second rate movie star and failed political pundit?”
“He fought hard for Sleepy Joe’s election and then, right after the Debate, dumped him like a dog. Later, I assume under orders from the Obama camp, pushed all out for ‘Kamala,’ only to soon realize that was not going to work out too well."
"'60 Minutes’ even fraudulently inserted Fake answers into her disastrous interview, aired just before Election Day, in one of the most embarrassing and dishonest events in broadcast history…And now George Clooney again?"
"His press agent should be making a fortune!!!” Trump added.
@realDonaldTrump/TruthSocial
Trump's ongoing petulance had social media users shaking their heads.
Trump went after Clooney before when the two-time Academy Award winner wrote The New York Times op-ed asking former Democratic President Joe Biden to step down from the election to give the Democratic party a better chance at defeating Trump.
Clooney later explained to 60 Minutes why he wrote the op-ed.
“I’ll make it kind of easy. I was raised to tell the truth,” he said, adding:
“I had seen the president up close for this fundraiser, and I was surprised. And so I feel as if there was a lot of profiles in cowardice in my party through all of that. And I was not proud of that. And I also believed I had to tell the truth.”
After the NY Times published Clooney's op-ed, Trump responded on Truth Social with:
“So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act."
“He’s turned on Crooked Joe like the rats they both are. What does Clooney know about anything?…Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!!!”
Clooney was up for the challenge, but under one condition.
In his response to Trump's post, Clooney said on Jimmy Kimmel Live:
"I will if he does. That’s a trade-off I’d do.”
Good Night, and Good Luck, starring Clooney as Edward R. Murrow, began previews on March 12, 2025, at the Winter Garden Theatre.
The official opening for the limited engagement is scheduled for April 3, 2025 and will run through June 8, 2025.
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