George Clooney admonished the White House after Communications Director Steven Cheung criticized the two-time Oscar winner’s acting abilities amid an escalating war with Iran launched by the U.S. and Israel in February.
“Families are losing their loved ones. Children have been incinerated. The world’s economy is on a knife’s edge,” said Clooney in a statement to Rolling Stone. “This is a time for vigorous debate at the highest levels. Not for infantile name calling. I’ll start. A war crime is alleged ‘when there is intent to physically destroy a nation,’ as defined by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute. What is the administration’s defense? [besides calling me a failed actor which I happily agree with having starred in Batman and Robin?].”
The actor’s latest clash with the White House began Tuesday morning, when President Donald Trump took to social media and threatened to destroy an entire civilization unless Iran opened the Strait of Hormuz. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
The following day, Clooney addressed the president’s threat during an event in Cuneo, Italy, organized by the Clooney Foundation for Justice. “Some say Donald Trump is fine. But if anyone says he wants to end a civilization, that’s a war crime,” Clooney said when speaking to 3,000 high school students, according to Italian news outlet ANSA. “You can still support the conservative point of view, but there must be a line of decency, and we must not cross it.”
In response to Clooney, who has traded barbs with Trump over the years, Cheung swiped at the actor on X and wrote, “The only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability.”
While Trump later pulled back on his threats to wipe out Iranian bridges, power plants, and other civilian targets — subject to Iran agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz — congressional Democrats and right-wing commentators have been calling for Trump’s removal from office by way of impeachment or by stripping him of his powers through the 25th Amendment.
Several high-profile Democrats are calling to oust Trump, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. “This is a threat of genocide and merits removal from office,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on X.
Former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, far-right conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones, and conservative commentator Candace Owens were also among the growing group of conservative pundits pushing for the president’s removal. “The 25th amendment needs to be invoked. He is a genocidal lunatic,” wrote Owens on social media. “We are beyond madness.”
