George Clooney took a moment to condemn the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner despite being politically critical towards Donald Trump.
During his appearance at the 51st Chaplin Award Gala, where Clooney was also honored, he addressed the Saturday night incident, when a shooter attempted to enter the White House with arms and started firing outside the ballroom.
Clooney, per Variety, said on the stage, “I can’t be here on a night like tonight and just ignore everything that’s going on in the world.”
He continued, “I disagree with everything that this administration stands for, but there’s no place for the kind of violence we saw two nights ago in Washington, D.C. Nor is there a room for this kind of violence in Minnesota with Alex Pretti or Renée Good.”
Rather than directly criticizing Trump by name, he chose to criticize the rise of extreme and violent political behavior.
“It seems to me there’s a struggle that has to be won against hatred and corruption and cruelty and violence,” Clooney noted, adding, “It’s a struggle for the very soul of this republic because to foment hate and violence is to inherit the wind.”
He concluded his remark by leaving a simple point to ponder for the citizens of America, “The question is simply, what are we, as citizens of this great country, to do? And it is that answer in all of us, left, right and center, to build a more perfect union, heal our wounds and begin to truly make America great again.”
This came after the Oscar-winning actor blasted Trump for his explosive remarks about wiping out the “whole civilization” of Iran if it does not agree to a ceasefire agreement.
He also took a swipe at Trump’s alleged plan to exit from NATO over what the president claims is European countries’ non-cooperation with him over a war in the Middle East.
