George Clooney calls Donald Trump’s ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ threat to Iran a war crime | George Clooney
The long-running war of words between George Clooney and the White House reignited after the Oscar-winning actor criticized Donald Trump’s threat to Iran that “an entire civilization will die tonight.”
In a speech to 3,000 high school students in Cuneo, Italy, on Wednesday, Clooney said the US president had committed a war crime by threatening him.
“Some say Donald Trump is good,” the 64-year-old student told students at an event organized by the Clooney Justice Foundation. “But if someone says they want to bring about the end of a civilization, that’s a war crime. You can still support the conservative point of view, but there has to be a line of decency and we shouldn’t cross that line.”
In response, White House communications director Steven Cheung said: He told the Independent: “The only person who has committed war crimes is George Clooney, due to his terrible movies and terrible acting talent.”
In a statement to Deadline On Wednesday, Clooney said: “Families are losing loved ones. Children are being burned. The world economy is on a knife edge. This is a time for heated debate at the highest levels. Not for childish name-calling. I will begin. A war crime is alleged ‘when there is intent to physically destroy a nation’ as defined in 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?].”
A longtime supporter and donor to Democrats, Clooney has been outspoken about his politics for decades, often framing his outspokenness as a moral responsibility stemming from his upbringing by his journalist father and his marriage to human rights attorney Amal Clooney. He made headlines in 2025 when he wrote an op-ed in the New York Times urging then-President Joe Bide to drop out of the presidential race.
Despite the gap between their policies, Clooney mentioned that he had good relations with Trump before his presidency: I told Variety last year: “I knew him very well. He called me a lot, and once he tried to help me go to the hospital and see a back surgeon. I used to see him in clubs and restaurants. He’s a complete idiot. Yes, he was. Everything changed.”
Trump, who is not known for having a thick skin, often responds to criticism from Hollywood, a world he has tried to break into through cameos and reality television. He has been particularly sensitive to criticism from Clooney over the years, variously calling him a “second-rate movie star”. “third class actor”A. “fake movie actor” who “never came close to making a great movie” and “backstabbing”.
In January, Trump criticized France’s decision to grant French citizenship to the actor and his family, calling the Clooneys “two of the worst political prophets of all time.”
“Clooney has received more publicity in the political arena than his very few and completely mediocre films,” the president added. “He certainly wasn’t a movie star; he was just an average guy who constantly complained about common sense in politics.”
In response and in reference to the US midterm elections on November 3, Clooney told the Hollywood Reporter:: “I completely agree with the current president. We have to make America great again. We’ll start in November.”
