Entertainment

Save
Print
License article

'F--- you!': George Clooney hits back at Trump's criticism of 'Hollywood elites'

Actor George Clooney has slammed US President Donald Trump's criticism of Hollywood's stars as "liberal elites", calling the claim "ridiculous" coming from a real estate magnate born into wealth.

"Here's the thing: I grew up in Kentucky. I sold insurance door-to-door. I sold ladies' shoes. I worked at an all-night liquor store. I would buy suits that were too big and too long and cut the bottom of the pants off to make ties so I'd have a tie to go on job interviews," Clooney, 56, told the Daily Beast.

Up Next

2017: A year in film

null
Video duration
02:51

More Entertainment News Videos

George Clooney rips on Trump, Bannon and Clinton

Actor George Clooney has slammed US President Donald Trump's labelling of Hollywood's stars as "liberal elites", and also levelled criticisms against Steve Bannon and even Hillary Clinton.

"The idea that I'm somehow the 'Hollywood elite' and this guy who takes a shit in a gold toilet is somehow the man of the people is laughable," he said.

The actor - who was promoting Suburbicon, his upcoming satire on race relations starring Matt Damon - said liberals in the entertainment industry, whom Trump regularly chastises as "coastal elites", largely hail from America's Midwest heartland and moved to Hollywood for their careers.

"I laugh when I see him say 'Hollywood elite'," Clooney said.

"Hollywood elite? I don't have a star on Hollywood Boulevard. Donald Trump has a star on Hollywood Boulevard! F--- you!"

Advertisement

Clooney also didn't hold back on Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon - largely deemed responsible for the administration's appeal to the alt-right - calling him a "pussy".

"Steve Bannon is a little wannabe writer who would do anything in the world to have had a script made in Hollywood," Clooney said, referring to Bannon's notorious forays into the film world.

"Here's the truth: if Steve Bannon had Hollywood say, 'Oh, this is a really good script,' and they had made his movie, he'd still be in Hollywood writing his f---in' movies and kissing my ass to be in one of his f---in' films," Clooney said.

Clooney, surprisingly, also levelled criticisms at Hillary Clinton, whom he had officially endorsed during the presidential election, including a fundraiser hosted at his home that charged attendees almost $US450,000 per table.    

"She was more qualified than even her husband was when he was elected president, but she's not as good as communicating things ... When she got up and gave a speech, it didn't soar," Clooney said.

"It was frustrating because I never saw her lift her game. I never saw it ... I think that she wasn't particularly good at articulating the things that she wanted to do."

He offered a foolproof strategy for the Democrats' next presidential hopeful, saying they "should just run with a blue hat that says 'Make America Great Again'."

Suburbicon, which Clooney directed from a script by Oscar winners the Coen Bros, opens in cinemas on October 26.