Clooney Condemns Violence at Chaplin Award Gala
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- George Clooney used his acceptance speech at Film at Lincoln Center's 51st annual Chaplin Award gala to denounce violence, specifically citing the weekend evacuation of the White House Correspondents' Dinner after a gunman attempted to storm the event.
- Clooney also invoked Alex Pretti and Renée Good in Minnesota, stating there is "no room for this kind of violence" in connection to their cases.
- Clooney framed the political moment as a "struggle for the very soul of this republic" and called on Americans "left, right and center" to "heal our wounds and begin to truly make America great again."
- Stephen Colbert, one of the event's presenters and a figure recently ousted from CBS's late-night chair, used his microphone to needle the network, saying Clooney's film about CBS standing up to McCarthy has been seen "hopefully, someday, by CBS."
- Clooney invoked an Edward R. Murrow quote — "We will not walk in fear, one of another" — the journalist he currently portrays in his Broadway production "Good Night, and Good Luck."
- The article notes Clooney has been critical of Bari Weiss, the conservative commentator installed atop CBS News by Paramount's new owner David Ellison.
Why it matters: Clooney turned a career-honor moment into explicit political commentary about the weekend's D.C. attack, giving Hollywood's anti-Trump voices a prime national platform. Colbert's simultaneous dig at CBS — from a presenter who was just ousted from that network's late-night chair — made the gala a two-front stage for discontent with both the current administration and the new direction of legacy media.
