Actor George Clooney said he doesn’t care if President Trump calls him a “second rate movie star,” among other criticisms.
Clooney, one of the more prominent Democratic supporters in Hollywood, sat for an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” in March, during which he slammed Trump and shared more about his Broadway debut.
After the interview aired, Trump called the two-time Oscar winning actor a “second rate movie star” and said he should go to television because movies didn’t work out for him.
“I don’t care. I’ve known Donald Trump for a long time. My job is not to please the President of the United States,” Clooney said in response to Trump during an appearance on CBS Mornings on Monday.
“My job is to try and tell the truth when I can and when I have the opportunity,” Clooney added. “I am well aware of the idea that people will not like that, there will be people that criticize that.”
Clooney noted that tech billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk has criticized him in the past.
“That’s their right to do it, and it’s my right to say the other side,” the actor said.
Clooney was appearing on both CBS shows to highlight his new play, “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which examines former Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s political conflict with CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow in the 1950s.
During the interview, Clooney spoke about the Trump administration’s efforts to stifle the media and said there’s a push to use the government to “make journalists smaller.”
“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 questioned online. “He fought hard for Sleepy Joe’s election and then, right after the Debate, dumped him like a dog.”
Trump was highlighting his battle with CBS after he accused the network of election interference over an allegedly edited version of an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris last fall.
He also noted Clooney’s support for former President Biden. Clooney held a fundraiser just days before Biden and Trump’s debate last June, which ultimately led Clooney to write an op-ed calling on the president to step aside after his poor performance.