George Clooney made the argument over the weekend that President Trump and his chief strategist, Steve Bannon, are the same “Hollywood elitists” that their supporters enthusiastically reject.
Appearing on the French program “Rencontres de Cinema,” the Oscar-winning actor mentioned Meryl Streep’s speech during the Golden Globes in January when she blasted the president as a bully. Mr. Clooney said it’s wrong for conservatives to dismiss Ms. Streep’s speech just because she’s a wealthy actress.
“This is the part that makes me a little crazy,” he said, Gossip Cop reported. “When Meryl spoke, everyone on that one side was like, ’Well, Hollywood elitist Hollywood speaking.’ Donald Trump has 22 acting credits. He collects $120,000 a year from a Screen Actor’s Guild pension fund. He is a Hollywood elitist.
“Steve Bannon is a failed film writer and director. That’s the truth, that’s what he’s done,” Mr. Clooney continued. “He wrote a Shakespearean rap musical about the L.A. riots that he couldn’t get made, you know, which is a shock. He made a lot of money off ’Seinfeld.’ He’s elitist — Hollywood. That’s the reality, if you want to look at it that way.
“So I look at when people say Meryl shouldn’t speak up — of course she should,” he added. “She has every right to speak up. She’s an American citizen, and she was an American citizen a long time before she was an icon.”
Mr. Clooney, who endorsed Hillary Clinton’s failed Democratic presidential campaign, said the American people are resilient and will find a way of fixing any damage done by Mr. Trump.
“One thing that I’m always very proud of is we tend to do a lot of dumb things over time, but we’re also pretty good at fixing them,” he said. “Now we have Donald Trump, which is hard to imagine. It sort of catches in your throat. But we’ll fix it. We have to. We have to make fun of these situations. Humor is an important part of it.”
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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