George Clooney promoted the Broadway version of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which is based on his Oscar-nominated 2005 film, on the March 23 episode of CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
In the play, Clooney plays CBS broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow, who opposes U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy’s early 1950s hunt for suspected Communists. Clooney also directed the film.
On “60 Minutes,” the actor stated that the story’s emphasis on media accountability and the conflict between journalists and political leaders could not come at a more appropriate moment.
“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 said about journalism. “ABC has just settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration. And CBS News is in the process … We’re seeing this idea of using government to scare or fine or use corporations—to make journalists smaller.”
“Governments don’t like the freedom of the press. They never have,” Clooney continued. “And that goes for whether you are a conservative or a liberal or whatever side you’re on. They don’t like the press.”
In order to resolve Trump’s defamation lawsuit against George Stephanopoulos and the network, ABC News agreed in December to pay $15 million and make an apology after the anchor falsely claimed the president-elect was responsible for rape. Trump is currently suing “60 Minutes” and CBS for $10 billion, claiming the news program attempted to deceive voters by showing two distinct edits of his comments from a pre-election conversation with Kamala Harris. The president has demanded the “termination” of “60 Minutes.”
Trump once again attacked the TV show and the actor on his Truth Social page after Clooney’s interview on “60 Minutes.”
“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?” Trump wrote. “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 has already targeted Clooney on social media. Before Election Day, the Oscar winner made waves when she wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times urging Joe Biden to withdraw from the race so that the Democratic party could have a genuine chance of defeating Trump. Biden responded with a rant on Truth Social, labeling Clooney a “fake movie actor.”
“So now fake movie actor George Clooney, who never came close to making a great movie, is getting into the act,” Trump posted at the time. “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 then responded to Trump’s post during an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” by saying, “I will if he does. That’s a trade-off I’d do.”
“I’ll make it kind of easy. I was raised to tell the truth,” Clooney explained to “60 Minutes” about why he wrote the op-ed asking Biden to step down. “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.”
Broadway is currently showing “Good Night, and Good Luck” in advance of its opening night on April 3. Watch the video below to see Clooney’s whole interview on “60 Minutes.”