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Oscar winner George Clooney may make politically provocative films like "Syriana." But he doesn't write politically provocative blogs.
So imagine his ire when Arianna Huffington used some of his recent answers to political questions in a way that makes it look as if he wrote one for her Huffington Post blog site.
"He doesn't object to the quotes," says Stan Rosenfield, Clooney's rep. "He said those things and those are his views. Arianna asked for permission to use the quotes and he gave it to her. What he didn't give permission for was the use of his quotes without source attributions to make it appear that he wrote a blog for her site. Which he did not. When he saw the posting Monday, we called and asked her to make the change, to simply attribute the quotes and make it clear that he did not write a blog. But she refused. And it's now Wednesday."
Rather than keep waiting, Clooney got proactive and issued this statement:
"Miss Huffington's blog is purposefully misleading and I have asked her to clarify the facts. I stand by my statements but I did not write this blog. With my permission Miss Huffington compiled it from interviews with Larry King and The Guardian. What she most certainly did not get my permission to do is to combine only my answers in a blog that misleads the reader into thinking that I wrote this piece. These are not my writings — they are answers to questions and there is a huge difference."
In the pulled-from-interviews quotes, Clooney criticizes the Democrats' failure to speak out about the Iraq invasion for fear of being criticized for being unpatriotic.
And the "Good Night, and Good Luck" writer-director-star also invokes Edward R. Murrow: “When you hear Murrow say, ‘We mustn’t confuse dissent with disloyalty’ ... it’s like he’s commenting on today’s headlines.”
Or today's blogs.
UPDATE: George is wrong, sez Arianna, and here’s her side of the story just emailed to "The Envelope" via publicist Ken Sunshine’s office.
“When I first invited George Clooney to blog after a screening of "Good Night, and Good Luck" in New York a few months ago, he said he wasn't sure how a blog worked. So we put together a sample blog from answers he had given on 'Larry King Live' and an interview with the Guardian in London, and sent it to him to rework in any way he wanted.
"A publicist working with George on the promotion of 'Good Night, and Good Luck,' emailed back saying, “I will get it to him and get back to you as soon as I hear anything.” Three days later, she emailed again, approving, without any changes, what we had sent: 'Of course this is fine, Arianna!'
"And once we had the approval, that’s what we ran: George Clooney’s words put into blog form.”
According to Shawn Sachs at Ken Sunshine’s office, Clooney's camp asked her to issue a statement saying she lied and misled Clooney, which she refused to do. “They also asked us to take down the blog which we did.”
Then why is it still up?
“It is?” asked Sachs.
Yup. Just click on the Huffington Post link in the item.
“Oh, you’re right. Here it is. I’ll call you back.”
UPDATE No. 2:
: Arianna Huffington has posted a full response on her blog, calling it an "honest misunderstanding." You can read her full statement here.
UPDATE No. 3- 11:34 AM PST: Ken Sunshine's office has emailed The Envelope to say that the Clooney blog is being removed from Huffington Post.
But Arianna's defense does not impress Clooney rep Stan Rosenfield much: "I read (Arianna's) response. This wasn't a misunderstanding. It was misrepresentation."
Clooney's camp insists they did not ask HuffPo to take down the item or to release a statement about lying and misrepresentation. They say they only asked for a posted qualifier explaining that the item was not written by Clooney but was a compilation of quotes from past interviews with Larry King and The Guardian.
So there.
Photo: No, George Clooney is not carrying a box of his political blogs. Because he doesn't write them and don't ask him to! He's actually filming his new movie "Michael Clayton" in New York.
(RJ Capak / WireImage.)
Marcus.... and Kelsey Grammer has 3 movies coming out this year. Busy, busy, busy!
Posted by: Melanie | March 16, 2006 at 09:10 AM
Marcus Shelby~ My husband, our friends, and some family ARE the little people in Hollywood and we know plenty of working conservatives who are just as vocal about their stance as we are in ours. So, no, I don't know what you're talking about with this "blackballing". It's crap.
Clint Eastwood? Seriously? You think he hasn't been busy? Last year, at the 2005 Oscars, his movie "Million Dollar Baby" won best picture, he won best director, there were a total of 8 wins for his picture. In 2004 "Mystic River" was nominated for best picture and best director, also Clint's movie. His next project is "Flags of Our Fathers" that he is directing for Speilberg's company. Doesn't sound so bad to me.
The Jessica Simpson thing probably has less to do with her being a conservative than it does with Bush's approval ratings being at 34%...hell, even the republicans in congress are distancing themselves from that albatross.
Mel Gibson's movie sucked. Just because a movie makes a great deal of money doesn't mean it is a great, Oscar worthy movie.... "Big Mama's House 2" comes to mind.
I think the fall in ticket sales has more to do with the $12 price tag and being forced to sit through commercials before the movie starts rather than some imagined boycott. What used to be an affordable family night out, is cheaper to do at home on your big screen tv.
Posted by: Melanie | March 16, 2006 at 09:06 AM
The only famous Simpsons I know of are Bart's family. Is Jessica a relative or, for that matter, relative?
Posted by: Bill | March 16, 2006 at 08:44 AM
Ooooooh. Pretty people talking. See how pretty their lips are? We should all discuss this all day. Every day. It's the most important thing. It's the only thing we should do with our time....everybody agrees. Let's just talk about how much we enjoy watching the pretty people talk.
We should all just talk too. Talk, talk, talk. That's how everything in the whole wide world got created right? People talking. Talking, talking, talking, just like us.
What a great life we have....we get to spend every day, every week, every year...watching pretty people on flickering screens, and talking, talking, talking. Thanks to those boring, not-pretty medical guys (who are tooooooooooo expensive, LOL) we can do this for, like, 80 years now.
Oh, and btw? If you don't like me, but you're not REALLY PRETTY, I don't care. LOL.
Can't wait to go out and pretend to my friends that I voted! LOL
Posted by: Driveby | March 16, 2006 at 08:14 AM
Re:liberal treatment of conservatives. I was "born" a Democrat and remained a liberal Democrat for many years. I worked in a profession dominated by liberal Democrats like myself. Occasionally, a conservative Republican showed up and attempted to express an opinion about matters political. I am not proud to say that I joined the "herd of independent minds" in
becoming angry at the upstart's nerve in believing he had a right to a contrary opinion and to disagree with us -who were so clearly always correct. Social ostracism is a weapon we employed as a matter of course. I realize now that I was using emotion rather than facts to justify whatever it was I believed in. I also have come to rethink my positions and see now that I was simply wrong about the factual bases of much of what I believed. I am no longer a Democrat. I am hunkered down now and waiting for the attacks!
Posted by: mhr | March 16, 2006 at 08:02 AM
Come on people, George Clooney isn't a liberal, he is a Neocon! Max Boot said so in this very newspaper a couple of days ago.
Posted by: Agi | March 16, 2006 at 07:42 AM
Melanie, I was referring to the regular jobs in Hollywood. You know all those "little people" to you. The ones whos names you don't reconize as the screen credits roll by. If you let you political bent slip out you won't get asked back to the next movie.
If you think Hollywood doesn't discrimnate why do you think Jessica Simpson cancelled her meet and great with the President yesterday? Her agent called her and said she was getting a lot of flak and might get blackballed in the future. That's what happened.
You don't think Mel Gibson was snubbed? His movie made more than the next top 5 movies and he doesn't even get a nomination, give me a break Melanie. I don't need to perpetuate a myth, it is plain as day. And Kelsey Grammer, oh yeah, he has been real busy lately. And Clint Eastwood too.
What current big name strar is a true conservative and is very open about it....NONE.
I've seen a key grip fired on the spot because he came to work in a Club Gitmo t-shirt. The left is the disciminator in this indistry.
The real problem is the lies in movies. Clooney acts as if there was no communist infiltration in Hollywood and the State Department. It was proven true once teh Soviet Union fell. At least he could have been honest about that. It kills me that Hollywood can't figure out why their receipts keep falling. Besides the lousy movies America is in teh middle of a full scale Hollywood BOYCOTT. And good for them.
When will Clooney make a movie about teh Saddam tapes and documents that are coming out. They show Al-Qeada WAS in Iraq, He did have WMDs and sent them to Syria in a hollowed out 747 and 737, 24 flights disguised as humanitarian missions. He was playing cat and mouse games with UN weapons inspectors.
Thank God Bush has the guts to do what it takes and not allow Saddam to become another Hitler. You remember how the LEFT wanted to appease Hitler? How the LEFT wanted teh UN, the league of nations then, to only impose SANCTIONS on Hitler. How Hitler was only a two bit little dictator and would never cause much trouble? The LEFT was wrong then and they are wrong today. How is it that the LEFT thinks that there is no evil in the world today???
I know, because they thin k there is no God either.
Patriot Motors (PMCY) check it out
Marcus Shelby MD
Posted by: Marcus Shelby | March 16, 2006 at 07:08 AM
the blog entry was fake but accurate.
Posted by: santos | March 16, 2006 at 04:59 AM
Sounds like Mr. Clooney needs to have a little talk with his publicist, the screwup seems to be entirely hers in giving out his "approval" when he emphatically did not wish it to be given.
Trying to shift the blame onto Arianna is just juvenile.
Now, can we go back to working together to get rid of the crooks and liars who are driving the country into the ditch?
Posted by: melior | March 16, 2006 at 01:24 AM
America, do you know where the statue of liberty came from ????!!!!!!!!
Posted by: William Humphreys | March 16, 2006 at 12:13 AM
""Try and get a job in moives or TV if you are a conservative. They blackball you. Talk about discrimination"".~Marcus Shelby
You mean like Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, Kelsey Grammer, Mel Gibson, Patricia Heaton, Dwayne Johnson "The Rock", Emily Proctor, Jessica Simpson....Mickey Rooney??? Yeah, they've got it really rough, the poor saps.
Nope. It's just people like you that perpetuate that myth.
Posted by: Melanie | March 15, 2006 at 11:29 PM
You of the 33% who STILL back this fallen regime can't hold a candle to George Clooney. You've got your George, who is a drunk, a failure, incompetent, ignorant, hypcritical, irresponsible, sloppy, ill-spoken, a liar, and the most unpopular human in the world. And we've got ours, who is drop-dead gorgeous, courageous, intelligent, successful, creative, enlightened and classy, and admired the world over. We've got a fox, you've got a monkey. No wonder you're so pissed off.
Posted by: Happy | March 15, 2006 at 09:53 PM
Get over it, we've got a much, much bigger fight on our hands, with the immediate one being getting control of congress this year. This kind of bs is disheartening.
Posted by: Shag Wilburn | March 15, 2006 at 07:42 PM
Liberal: I can't believe George Bush won, I don't know anyone who voted for him.
They said the same thing about Nixon.
Conservatives have always welcomed liberals under or tent. come and hang out with us, work with us and have a beer with us. Liberals try to shun conservatives. They actually discriminate against conservatives in Hollywood and in the classrooms. Look at all teh wacky comments that come out of the mouth of some of these teachers and professors. thank God some kids are starting to record these traitors. It must be nice to get paid with tax payer money and have no chance of ever getting fired while having June, July and August off. And you are putting pout a lousy prduct. Other countries are beating our students and they spend less money per pupil.
Hollywood and Clooney do not get it. There is a full scale BOYCOTT of liberal Hollywood. Try and get a job in moives or TV if you are a conservative. They blackball you. Talk about discrimination.
I will not see movies by the American haters. Clooney, Depp, Julia Robers, Streisand, ETC
The World Fastest Indian was wonderful.
If these clowns protested when Clinton started a war for oil in Kosovo or when Clinton sold the Long Beach port to the Communist Chinese Military for campaign cash I could see their point, but they are truly HYPOCRITES to only complain about one side.
www.patriotmotorcycles.com stock symbol (PMCY)
Marcus Shelby
Posted by: Marcus Shelby | March 15, 2006 at 06:41 PM
God almighty! WHO CARES about George Clooney and his "to blog or not to blog" dilemma? He's not even a good actor.
Posted by: joyce | March 15, 2006 at 06:25 PM
I mean does anybody really care? Can't believe people don't have more interesting things to do on the Web than this.
Posted by: Fran | March 15, 2006 at 06:07 PM
My, my, my. It appears that "George" (Clooney) doesn't appreciate being treated like "George W" gets treated by the same media all the time. Welcome to the "twisted facts" media Mr. Clooney. A little of your own medicine me thinks....smile!
Posted by: Informed American | March 15, 2006 at 06:00 PM
The fundamental issue is simply the right of free speech. I do not necessarily agree with Mr. Clooney, nor do I necessarily agree with everyone who has the opportunity to address the public freely and frequently, however, free speech is one of our rights. If Mr. Clooney did not approve of his transcripts being selectively edited then he indeed has a right to be displeased. Thank (fill in the blank) that we live in America where we can actually have these discussions without fear of reprisal, namely, serious bodily harm, loss of freedom or loss of life.
Posted by: David | March 15, 2006 at 05:56 PM
Stumbled onto this thread...bored...
If a citizen of this near-Great country wants to offer his thoughts,it's within his protected right. If a public wishes to boycott his future endeavors, it is fundamental to a free market economy to do so. Those that make their living from the public's free market decisions would do well to consider the impact of their thoughts and their control of the medium in which these thoughts are communicated.
I agree with the chap that encouraged us to read more.
How does being an actor make you more or less correct or relevant? Have any of you read Malcolm Gladwell?
Posted by: Steve-O | March 15, 2006 at 05:56 PM
This is sad. It's typical of the problems with the thinkers on the left, they just can't get their act together and stay on the same page. I love and respect Clooney because he keeps it real and is proud of his liberal tag. But you would think that he and Huffington would have gotten their act together before she posted his comments on her blog?
Personally, I agree with what he said, but I think it's sad that this controversy is clouding his message.
What can I say? Other than good night and good luck George. -That was too easy :)
Posted by: field-negro | March 15, 2006 at 05:56 PM
I thought all the liberals were moving to Canada if Bush won...? I mean what ever happened to that...? I'll tell you that was a GREAT idea! In fact, it was about tho ONLY thing they've had to offer this country in years! (besides obstructing, undermining and lending aid/comfort to our enemies of course)
You belong at hockey games, booing the US National Anthem.
Posted by: Jeff | March 15, 2006 at 05:49 PM
Clooney is a great actor, but that is where it ends. Until he comes out into the light and quits hiding behind the lies and money of Beverly Hills he has absolutely no credibility whatsoever. It was people like him that waited for Hitler to invade all of Europe and North Africa before they stopped calling him misunderstood. We struggled for over ten years to turn Japan into what it is today, it will not be so easy for Iraq. Saddam was evil, the Intelligence was correct, and the world is better off as a result. Get over it!
Posted by: Gunny Biggs | March 15, 2006 at 05:44 PM
George Clooney can be wrong sometimes but he certainly maintains more class than many of his peers.
Posted by: Jon Lester | March 15, 2006 at 05:30 PM
Thank God I read this. This is sooo important. Hell, I was worried about the people in Sudan and the soldiers in Iraq. Fortunately the real issues are still being discussed.
Posted by: Malcolm I am | March 15, 2006 at 05:21 PM
""FYI, what Clooney did or did not write is not called a "blog." It would be called a "blog post."
A blog is made up of many posts. A post cannot be called a blog. Or if you prefer, blog entries. But blog blogs? No.
Please take the time to understand the proper terminology."" ~CosmoReaxer
Anal much?
Posted by: Melanie | March 15, 2006 at 05:20 PM