 | |  |  | George Clooney News & Gossip
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| | George Clooney bashes The Daily Mail's Druze article in a new open letter | | Added 9 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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On Monday, The Daily Mail published a lengthy article in which they claimed Amal Alamuddin?s mother didn?t care for George Clooney because she wanted her daughter to marry someone from their Druze faith. The Mail claimed that Amal?s mom believes in insular Druze-only marriages and child-rearing and that since there?s no conversion method for Druze, George could never be worthy. I covered the story yesterday, as did many other blogs and outlets this week. And now George Clooney claims that the entire article is fabricated and that his would-be mother-in-law is not Druze:
I want to speak to the irresponsibility of Monday’s Daily Mail report. I seldom respond to tabloids, unless it involves someone else and their safety or well being. The Daily Mail has printed a completely fabricated story about my fiance’s mother opposing our marriage for religious reasons. It says Amal’s mother has been telling “half of Beirut” that she’s against the wedding. It says they joke about traditions in the Druze religion that end up with the death of the bride.
Let me repeat that: the death of the bride.
First of all, none of the story is factually true. Amal’s mother is not Druze. She has not been to Beirut since Amal and I have been dating, and she is in no way against the marriage ? but none of that is the issue. I’m, of course, used to the Daily Mail making up stories ? they do it several times a week ? and I don’t care. If they fabricate stories of Amal being pregnant, or that the marriage will take place on the set of Downton Abbey, or that I’m running for office, or any number of idiotic stories that they sit at their computers and invent, I don’t care.
But this lie involves larger issues. The irresponsibility, in this day and age, to exploit religious differences where none exist, is at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous. We have family members all over the world, and the idea that someone would inflame any part of that world for the sole reason of selling papers should be criminal.
I’m the son of a newsman; I accept the idea that freedom of speech can be an inconvenience to my private life from time to time, but this story, like so many others, is picked up by hundreds of other outlets citing the Daily Mail as their source, including Boston.com, New York Daily News, Gulf News, Emirates 24/7 and so on.
The Daily Mail, more than any other organization that calls itself news, has proved time and time again that facts make no difference in the articles they make up. And when they put my family and my friends in harm’s way, they cross far beyond just a laughable tabloid and into the arena of inciting violence. They must be so very proud.
[From USA Today]
Okay. I think George has every right to be angry and he has every right to correct the record and call out The Daily Mail for making up stories. So, this is completely justified. Full-stop.
If I wanted to parse – and I’ve gone back and forth on this – I could. Easily. I could find an angle, because while I think George is completely justified in writing what he wrote, I think this statement is a tinder box full of religious and freedom of speech controversies. But so was the original DM article that started everything, so blah. Let George’s words speak for themselves.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| | George Clooney & Amal 'definitely want kids ASAP,' just after the wedding | | Added 9 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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In the heat of the Met Gala coverage yesterday, I noticed something weird: George Clooney was trying to get attention for his engagement to Amal Alamuddin. Still. Didn?t he get enough attention last week? I guess not. To be fair to Clooney, the tabloid press has only had a week to really go all out and dig into Amal?s past, and maybe (??) this isn?t George?s doing. Like, this isn?t part of his Certified Fiance Rollout. But I?m a conspiracy theorist at heart, and I?m proudly wearing my tin foil hat of TRUTH and I think Clooney?s publicist had a hand in these stories. First, let?s hear about when Clooney and Amal will marry and if BABIES are on the menu.
Now that George Clooney has finally found ?The One,? he?s wasting no time in settling down to family life. RadarOnline.com has exclusively learned that he and fiance Amal Alamuddin will tie the knot in just a few months ? and are planning to have a baby soon after that!
?The wedding is to take place in September,? an insider reveals to Radar exclusively. And though London is already being discussed as a potential venue, the source insists, ?They?ve told family and friends they will only disclose the location at the last minute, and it will be very private. Neither George nor Amal want the wedding to be a public affair ? and her family really doesn?t either.?
Clooney, 53, has kept his in-laws opinions in mind throughout the process of wooing his bride-to-be, the insider says. When it came time to propose, ?George didn?t get a formal permission from her dad, but it was an indirect hint,? the source reveals. ?He definitely tossed the subject of marriage around with them so that he knew they would approve, but he really wanted the proposal to be a total surprise, and didn?t want to give away any hints about when it was going to take place.?
And now, the family is influencing the couple?s baby plans too! Clooney and Alamuddin, 36, ?definitely want kids asap,? the insider says. ?Her father is getting older, and he really wants to see her kids [before he dies].?
?Out of all his kids, he?s especially proud of Amal,? the source explains. ?It would mean the world to him to see her become a mom.?
[From Radar]
Oh, Clooney. How dare you play The Aniston Card! Babies are coming, I promise! First a family-centric wedding and THEN babies, totally. Except that last week we were being told that Amal?s holiday will come to a close in the Fall and she has to go back to work. True, she could still be a lawyer while pregnant (I doubt Julian Assange would mind), but? I just doubt that babies will be happening immediately. Also, I laughed at this: ?Her father is getting older?? Yeah, and George is some spring chicken.
Radar also has a longer story about how Amal?s father approves of George, even though Daddy Alamuddin feared the idea that ?Amal?s accomplishments and education would be neglected in the press ? and even by George.? Sounds about right. Funnily enough, this has the whiff of Clooney PR too, because of how the article ends:
And for the first time, Clooney, 53, seems content to share the spotlight with a worthy partner.
Amal, 36, ?is not a gold digger,? the source insists. ?She has her own money and things going on, and George has told people that?s why he knows he can trust her and wants to be with her. She isn?t going to be arranging paparazzi photos like some of his past girlfriends have done.?
[From Radar]
BURN. Burn on Sarah Larsen, Elisabetta Canalis and Stacy Keibler. We?re going to need a tub full of ice for all the burns.
The Daily Mail also has a story about the wedding and all of that ? go here to read.
#487199589 / gettyimages.com
#157795054 / gettyimages.com
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
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| | George Clooney Is Engaged? | | Added 10 years ago | Source: The Blemish |
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In a shock to everyone, George Clooney proposed to his 36-year-old British lawyer girlfriend, Amal Alamuddin, sometime in the past two weeks. Yea, that George Clooney.
On April 23, the twosome were spotted dining together at Craig’s restaurant in West Hollywood — and, according to one onlooker “they were toasting the engagement.” The infamous Hollywood bachelor even told a fellow diner that they were engaged, the witness claims.
“This is the healthiest relationship I’ve ever seen George in,” a source recently told Us. “He seems incredibly happy, and Amal is such a sweet and intelligent girl, who has her own thoughts and ideas and doesn’t just bow down to everything he says.”
“It’s actually not that surprising. He likes a woman with brains and class,” the source tells Us Weekly. “She’s the full package. His first wife Talia came from a good family and was very smart herself. He’s happy and found his ideal match. He didn’t settle, so good for him.”
Clooney divorced his first wife, Talia Balsam, in 1993 after 4 years of marriage.Since then, itfeels like he’sran through most of Hollywoodtrying to find the perfect woman. It’s like Cinderellabut in this case the foot is his penis and the shoe is a vagina.
The post George Clooney Is Engaged? appeared first on The Blemish.
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| | George Clooney Threw a Hissy Fit in Vegas | | Added 10 years ago | Source: The Blemish |
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George Clooney and Steve Wynn are snipingateach otherafter a drunken fightat a Las Vegas hotel. Not a fight with fists or anything. A fight with words.
During a group dinner at Botero in Wynn’s Encore hotel where everyone was drinking, things got heated when one of the CAA execs at the table told a joke about former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev. That didn’t sittoo well with Clooney who got all huffy when the subject turned to Obama.
?He stood up and threw a hissy fit? at the CAA guy, Wynn said in a telephone interview, his first comments on the dust-up.
?Then he sat down and started talking about the Affordable Care Act, and that?s when I spoke up,? said Wynn, a frequent critic of Obamacare. ?He didn?t like that either. I think my discussion about the Affordable Care Act was the straw that broke the camel?s back.
?When he?s drinking, he considers himself a close personal buddy of the president.
?He got up and said, ?I don’t have to listen to this (expletive) stuff. The only person who got excited at the table was George, and he ran off to another bar.?
Clooney?s partners were ?mortified,? Wynn said.
?Clooney?s fun to be with when he?s sober,? Wynn added. ?If you have a chance to drink with him, you want to get there early, and don’t stay late.
?Everybody who?s in my business, the casino business, knows to take actors with a grain of salt.?
Shots fired. Clooney issued his own statement which paints a different picture.
There were nine people at that table … so you can ask them. … Steve likes to go on rants.
?He called the president an asshole … that is a fact … I said the President was my longtime friend and then he said ?your friend is an asshole.? … At that point I told Steve that HE was an asshole and I wasn’t going to sit at his table while he was being such a jackass.
?And I walked out. There were obviously quite a few more adjectives and adverbs used by both of us. Those are all the facts. It had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with character.?
When Clooney and Wynn fight it’s pretty boring since it’s pretty muchlike two girls getting bitchy at each other. If this were Sean Penn, there’s no doubt he’d ask someone to hold his weavebecause shit was about to get real.
The post George Clooney Threw a Hissy Fit in Vegas appeared first on The Blemish.
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| | George Clooney & Steve Wynn got into a hilarious drunken fight about politics | | Added 10 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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This is possibly the funniest boy-on-boy drama of the year. It?s like the Selena Gomez-Taylor Swift dramz, only for the over-50 set. Apparently, George Clooney was recently in Las Vegas to promote his Casamigos tequila (the brand that he started with Rande Gerber). George was at some kind of private dinner with assorted friends, business associates and Vegas hotelier Steve Wynn. Apparently, Wynn is pretty conservative and anti-Obama. And y?all know Clooney is BFFs with President Obama. So hilarity and boy drama ensued. What makes this particularly hilarious is that we?re actually hearing from Clooney and Wynn themselves. Like, they?re getting into a pissing contest by issuing statements to a Las Vegas newspaper. It?s the over-50 equivalent of a Twitter rant.
Hotel-casino developer Steve Wynn and actor George Clooney offered vastly different accounts Tuesday of a dinner that ended in verbal fireworks. Wynn said Clooney ?got drunk? from downing tequila shots and stormed off after delivering an F-bomb.
The two-time Oscar winner issued the following statement in an email sent through his publicist: ?There were nine people at that table … so you can ask them. … Steve likes to go on rants. He called the president an a–hole … that is a fact … I said the President was my longtime friend and then he said ?your friend is an a–hole.? … At that point I told Steve that HE was an a–hole and I wasn?t going to sit at his table while he was being such a jackass. And I walked out. There were obviously quite a few more adjectives and adverbs used by both of us. Those are all the facts. It had nothing to do with politics and everything to do with character.?
The incident occurred two weeks ago at Botero restaurant, inside Wynn?s Encore hotel. Clooney was in Las Vegas to promote his Casamigos tequila during the Wine &Spirits Wholesalers of America convention.
Clooney and his Casamigos business partners Rande Gerber and Michael Meldman had joined Wynn and a group that included Wynn?s wife, Andrea Hissom, Larry Ruvo, founder of Southern Wine &Spirits, and two executives with celebrity powerhouse Creative Artists Agency.
Dinner had ended, and ?the place was empty,? Wynn said. Clooney took exception, Wynn said, when one of the CAA execs told a joke about former Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.
?He stood up and threw a hissy fit? at the CAA guy, Wynn said in a telephone interview, his first comments on the dust-up. ?Then he sat down and started talking about the Affordable Care Act, and that?s when I spoke up,? said Wynn, a frequent critic of Obamacare. ?He didn?t like that either. I think my discussion about the Affordable Care Act was the straw that broke the camel?s back. When he?s drinking, he considers himself a close personal buddy of the president. He got up and said, ?I don?t have to listen to this (expletive) stuff. The only person who got excited at the table was George, and he ran off to another bar.?
Clooney?s partners were ?mortified,? Wynn said. ?Clooney?s fun to be with when he?s sober,? Wynn added. ?If you have a chance to drink with him, you want to get there early, and don?t stay late. Everybody who?s in my business, the casino business, knows to take actors with a grain of salt.?
[From The Las Vegas Review-Journal]
Sounds like two drunks fighting about politics. Because that never happens. It?s the way everything is playing out in the media that is SO GREAT. After the Review-Journal published this story yesterday, Page Six got a ?leak? from Clooney?s camp. A source told Page Six:
?George and Rande were in Vegas for a party for their Casamigos tequila and had an early dinner with Wynn and other associates. Things turned nasty as Wynn was provoking George, talking about politics. At first George just wasn?t responding. He just sat there politely listening,? our source said. But ?Steve kept pushing and pushing, then started raising his voice. George still didn?t respond, he really didn?t want to get into it.? But finally, Wynn figured out how to push the ?Gravity? star?s buttons. ?Discussing Obamacare, Steve called Obama ?an a?-?-?hole,? ? said our source. ?George responded, ?President Obama is my friend, don?t talk about him like that.??? Wynn then shot back, ?Your friend is an a?-?-?hole!? George glared at Steve and said, ?No! You are an a?-?-?hole, and I?m not going to sit here any more and listen to this!???
The sources said while Clooney stuck up for the president, he pointed his finger at Steve, and ?Wynn?s three goon-like bodyguards immediately loomed up behind Rande and George.? But ?before Wynn?s bodyguards could touch them, George and Rande got up and walked out.?
[From Page Six]
What really happened? I have no idea. I have no doubt that tempers flared and harsh words were spoken. The thing is? I can fault Clooney for a lot of things, but he seems pretty even-tempered about politics. What I mean is that he?s not the type to froth at the mouth and start screaming at people who don?t agree with him. But he is the kind of person to call Steve Wynn an ?a?hole? to his face.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| | George Clooney's Relationship With Amal Alamuddin is the Real Deal | | Added 10 years ago | Source: Celebrity Gossip |
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He?s never single for long, and George Clooney's rumored romance with British barrister Amal Alamuddin is officially on!
The ?Monuments Men? hunk took his gorgeous gal to have dinner with his friends John Krasinski and Emily Blunt last week, confirming that it?s more than just a fling.
Clooney and Alamuddin?s latest outing comes after trips to Africa and the Seychelles, and they actually seem rather well-matched.
Both George and Amal are passionate about human rights and they each seem to appreciate having their own space. Perhaps Ms. Alamuddin will be the one to finally tie Hollywood?s most eligible bachelor down.
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| | George Clooney 'can't get enough' of Amal Alamuddin, 'he loves how smart she is' | | Added 10 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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The last time we checked in on George Clooney and his girlfriend Amal Almuddin, Amal was undergoing the official Girlfriend Rollout. Exclusive reports in People Magazine & Us Weekly, exclusive photos from George and Amal?s Seychelles and Tanzanian holidays, then a jaunty trip to NYC where Amal was photographed looking beautiful in some hipster clothes. While I already like the IDEA of Amal ? a smart, educated human rights lawyer who can go toe-to-toe with world leaders and Julian Assange ? I?m also finding it a little bit weird that we?re supposed to believe she?s the high-powered, in-demand, ballbusting lawyer AND that she can jet off on a whim to be Clooney?s Girlfriend. Anyway, part of the Girlfriend Rollout is that the tabloids start talking about how ?different? this girl is and how Clooney has never, ever felt this way and THIS TIME THERE WILL BE A WEDDING.
George Clooney seemed like a nervous teenager as he smiled and slipped his arm around Amal Alamuddin?s shoulder on March 15 during a whirlwind safari in Tanzania. Just days before, the couple were spotted taking a romantic stroll hand in hand on a beach in the Seychelles ? an island off the coast of Southeast Africa and a huge honeymoon destination.
?It looked very sweet,? says a witness. ?He was hanging on her every word and looking at her like she was the only woman in the world.?
Insiders say Clooney is clearly in love with the Oxford-educated beauty, but the question is whether he?s god enough for her! Beirut-born and raised in England, Amal is an international lawyer specializing in human rights. The 36-year-old coedited a book about the law and politics of Lebanon ? and as if that didn?t make her enough of a scholar, she is also fluent in French and Arabic.
George, whose last three girlfriends were a WWE star, an Italian TV hostess and a Vegas cocktail waitress, is gushing to friends that Amal is the woman he?s been waiting for. The insider says George can even see himself proposing!
?George can?t get enough of Amal. He?s very attracted to her and loves how smart and successful she is. He loves their intellectual conversations. He knows she?s a kepper and won?t do anything to risk screwing this up. If things keep going well, he?ll definitely propose.?
[From Star, print edition]
Love the shade from Star in there: ?George, whose last three girlfriends were a WWE star, an Italian TV hostess and a Vegas cocktail waitress?? Yes, that sums it up. Now, Amal is demonstrably ?different? than the Sarah Larsens and Elisabetta Canalises of the world, but what does it matter if Amal still acts like the same kind of ?beck and call girl?? I hope the past week of silence means that Amal went back to London to her job and that she expects Clooney to wait around for HER to call. We?ll see.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
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| | George Clooney took his official girlfriend Amal Alamuddin on an African safari | | Added 10 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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People Magazine has some exclusive photos of George Clooney and his OFFICIAL girlfriend on holiday in Tanzania. Go here to see! Yes, like we already said last month: George Clooney is officially dating Julian Assange?s hot lawyer Amal Alamuddin. She?s one of Britain?s top lawyers and she?s not some silly C-list wrestler or whatever. Amal is a woman of substance. She is a woman with an education and a real job. She sits down with despots, hackers, captains of industry and movie stars. Of course, the first time she ever got invited to the White House was as Clooney?s plus-one for The Monuments Men screening, so maybe she likes Clooney?s trappings of fame too.
A safari with George Clooney? That’s one trip to remember. The Monuments Men actor whisked his new girlfriend, British lawyer Amal Alamuddin, off for a jaunt to Tanzania to watch wildlife. Exclusive photos in the new issue of PEOPLE show the couple on one of their first trips together after romance rumors swirled when they were spotted dining together back in October.
The pair more recently turned up together for a special screening of Clooney’s latest movie on Feb. 18 at the White House alongside President Obama. When they had a nightcap at a local hotel afterward, “his arm was around her shoulder and she had hers around his,” an observer told PEOPLE at the time. “They just seemed very, very together.”
A source who has worked with Clooney has high hopes for the new romance.
“He’s with someone who is a very accomplished attorney. She isn’t someone who is pursuing a career in acting or entertainment,” says the source. “She’s on his level.”
[From People]
As Lainey pointed out, People Mag?s exclusive photos look like a planned and organized photo-op. Why is George making it official, I wonder? Could it be a little tit-for-tat with his ex, Stacy Keibler? Keibler gave People Mag an exclusive too ? her wedding photos and the unconfirmed story that she?s already knocked up. So George is letting Stacy ? and all of us ? that he?s fine. He?s already moved on. He?s moved on with a hottie with a law degree.
Here?s what bugs me a little though: ?She isn’t someone who is pursuing a career in acting or entertainment. She’s on his level.? First of all, while I admire George?s political work most of the time, I?ve never thought of him as some smooth, savant-like political operator. He?s not. He?s smarter than the average movie star, but that?s a low bar. I would even bet that Amal is smarter than George. And that?s what makes me think that this won?t last. George doesn?t like or need for his girlfriends to be smart. He likes being the clever one in relationships.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
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| | George Clooney's White House date: Julian Assange's hot lawyer, Amal Alamuddin' | | Added 10 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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Back in October of last year, there were some reports that George Clooney might have gotten himself a new girlfriend, his first since the Stacy Keibler thing. It?s new territory for us to see Clooney do a major promotional push (like he did for The Monuments Men and, to a lesser extent, Gravity) without an official girlfriend. In October, the claim was that he had been quietly seeing a lawyer named Amal Alamuddin, who happens to be A) hot and B) Julian Assange?s lawyer. Usually, Clooney doesn?t go for the smart, educated, political types, and so the reports were easy enough to dismiss. After all, while Clooney doesn?t date smart women, he sometimes hangs out with smart women, so many of us thought, ?Eh, she?s probably just a friend/colleague.?
But now it?s looking more and more like Amal Alamuddin might be his new girl. According to Page Six and The Daily Mail, Amal was George?s date to the White House last week and they ?looked very much together.? You can see the (blurry, could-be-anyone) photos here.
George Clooney has taken striking British barrister Amal Alamuddin ? who represents WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange – to meet President Obama at the White House, MailOnline can reveal. In a move that will provoke yet more questions over his close friendship with the human rights lawyer, Oscar winner George, 52, took Miss Alamuddin to the private screening of his latest movie Monuments Men last week, in a group that included his parents Nick and Nina Clooney.
The stunning brunette is currently representing Assange – who has made no secret of his anger at President Obama’s White House – in his extradition proceedings with Sweden. The Oscar winner and the lawyer were said to be looking extremely close at the event, and although it’s not known whether Miss Alamuddin met President Obama, Clooney is pictured standing by the Commander-in-Chief.
Just hours after the small screening on Tuesday, February 18, Clooney and Miss Alamuddin were pictured standing intimately together at the Round Robin and Scotch Bar at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. in a group that included Clooney?s pal and co-star Matt Damon and his wife Luciana, and fellow actor and co-star Bill Murray.
An onlooker at the bar told MailOnline: ‘They looked very much together, George had his arm around her and she appeared to be a girlfriend. They were in a small group of about 10 people, it’s really a small venue and there were maybe only about 30 people in the bar, and they were sitting at a table off to the side.?
Miss Alamuddin was not on the official White House guest list that was issued last week. However, in pictures seen by MailOnline, Miss Alamuddin – who donned a slinky black dress for the night – beams as she sips on champagne while having her hair done ahead of the screening, with Luciana Damon and Lysa Heslev looking on.
The presence of Julian Assange’s lawyer in the White House, even on a movie star’s arm for a private screening, is bound to have put the White House on tenterhooks. Last June, Assange attacked President Obama and the White House in an open letter over its treatment of fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
When asked about Miss Alamuddin’s presence at the screening, the White House press office had no official comment. However, two White House sources told MailOnline that Miss Alamuddin came to the event with Clooney, according to their colleagues who were present.
One said she and Clooney were the talk of the junior staff on the next day since they had been seen cozying up to each other as they arrived, walking behind the star’s parents, Nick and Nina Clooney.
[From The Daily Mail]
Very interesting. The Mail goes on to detail the ?official? guest list for the screening, and it basically includes a lot of official types (under secretaries, museum people). I don?t believe that Clooney was trying to put Pres. Obama in an awkward position, and I dispute the idea that the presence of Assange?s lawyer would have put the president in an awkward position. The Department of Justice hasn?t charged Julian Assange with any crime, and Ms. Alamuddin represents the international legal issues between Assange (currently living in the Ecuadorian embassy) and Sweden. She was not visiting the White House AS Julian Assange?s lawyer, but as a movie star?s date, or so it seems.
I think it?s on because Amal has that Elisabetta Canalis look that Clooney loves.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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| | George Clooney has a 'Hitlerian agenda' for antiquities, claims Boris Johnson | | Added 10 years ago | Source: CeleBitchy |
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If you asked me last Saturday if I thought I was going to spend this week discussing the British Museum?s possession of The Elgin Marbles/The Parthenon Marbles, I would have said you were crazy. But here we are. Quick note: these are some assorted new pics from the promotional tour for The Monuments Men. Most of these pics are from the London premiere and photocall. Anyway, back to the marbles. When doing press in Italy, George Clooney was asked ? by a Greek reporter ? if he thought the British Museum should return the Elgin Marbles to Greece. George said that it would probably be a good idea. The Greeks lavished praise on Clooney and they invited him to stay in Greece whenever he wants. But now George is England, and the English have a bone to pick with him. Before Clooney even arrived in England, John Whittingdale, the chairman of Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee told reporters:
“I’m a great admirer of George Clooney, but I suspect that he probably doesn’t know the history of the Elgin marbles and the legal entitlement that Britain has to them. He’s an American. I suspect he doesn’t know why it is that Britain came to acquire the Elgin marbles. There’s a very strong view in this country that they should stay.?
[From The LAT]
Basically, Clooney is a dumb America who should just go back to America and stop talking about Europe’s stolen art? Right. So, the British reporters were ready to pounce on Clooney as soon as he arrived. They asked him to reiterate his position. Clooney actually sounds good here:
At today’s press conference, held at the National Gallery, Clooney said it had been “one in about 100 questions at a press conference, from a Greek reporter, and I said I thought it was probably a good idea if they found their way back”.
But he added: “Apparently I got in trouble for saying that and I had to do a little research to make sure I wasn?t completely out of my mind. Even in England, the polling is in favour of returning the marbles to the Pantheon [sic]. The Vatican returned parts of it, the Getty returned parts of it [the Vatican gave a section of the Parthenon frieze to the Acropolis museum in Athens on loan; the J Paul Getty museum in Los Angeles repatriated looted treasures last year]. There are certain pieces you look at and think, ?That would perhaps be the right thing to do?.”
Clooney noted that he had been criticized for commenting because he was American and did not have sufficient understanding of the situation.
But Matt Damon, who was also present at the press conference, laughed: “That can?t always be the British default setting. It?s not actually an argument to say, ?He?s American, he doesn?t get it?.”
[From The Telegraph]
I tend to think George had the right to his opinion, and I err more on his side of the argument anyway. But don?t look at me ? if I had my way, the Queen would return the Koh-i-Noor diamond to India as well. Anyway, this has become a major kerfuffle in the UK, and wouldn?t you know, London mayor Boris Johnson decided to chime in too:
?Someone urgently needs to restore George Clooney?s marbles. Here he is plugging a film about looted Nazi art without realising that Gring himself had plans to plunder the British Museum. And where were the Nazis going to send the Elgin marbles? To Athens! This Clooney is advocating nothing less than the Hitlerian agenda for London?s cultural treasures. He should stuff the Hollywood script and stick to history.?
[From The Standard]
That argument makes absolutely no sense. It?s not even a reasonable application of Godwin?s law. Yes, the Nazis looted so many museums. They stole precious artwork and treasures from museums and from private citizens. SO DID ENGLAND. Just because England did it under the guise of ?colonization? a century or two before the Nazis, doesn?t make it any less wrong. It?s like saying, ?The Nazis were going to steal the stuff that WE STOLE FIRST.?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
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