George Clooney says it was his “civic duty” to speak out against Joe Biden
George Clooney has defended his decision to tell Joe Biden not to run in the presidential election in 2024.
Clooney, a prominent supporter of the Democratic Party, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times last July explaining why he believes Biden wasn’t the right person to represent the party at the election due to his age as well as his cognitive health.
The Hollywood star shared that he “loves” Biden, but his recent experience in his company at a fundraiser was a stark contrast from the person he once knew.
“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate,” Clooney said at the time.
At this stage, Biden was still intent on running in the presidential election and seeking a second term. However, after Clooney spoke out, his comments were echoed by many other senior Democrats and he eventually agreed to step down with Kamala Harris replacing him on the ballot.
While Harris was comprehensively beaten by Donald Trump at the election, Clooney maintains it was still the right thing to do.
The actor told CNN in a new interview: “I don’t know if it was brave. It was a civic duty because I found that people on my side of the street — you know, I’m a Democrat in Kentucky so I get it — when I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth I thought that was time to… some people [are mad], sure.”
Clooney continued: “That’s OK, you know, listen the idea of freedom of speech is you can’t demand freedom of speech and then say, ‘But don’t say bad things about me.‘”
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