George Clooney had a temper tantrum after an MSNBC star suggested he was secretly influenced to write an anti-Joe Biden op-ed by none other than former president Barack Obama.
The Hollywood icon penned the guest essay “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee” for The New York Times in July 2024, shortly before Biden dropped out of the race and passed the torch to Kamala Harris. In a Morning Joe segment, host Mika Brzezinski suggested that Obama put him up to it.
“This wasn’t George Clooney,” she said at the time. “I think that Barack Obama has a lot of influence.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Clooney was not happy. In fact, he reportedly raged at an unnamed MSNBC producer over the allegations, screaming “You f---ed” me." Journalist Chris Whipple reveals the meltdown in his recent book Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History.
“How the f--- could you let her link me with Barack Obama saying he made me write the op-ed?” he demanded on the alleged phone call, referencing The New York Times piece where he claimed Democrats hold their breath before Biden speaks.
Clooney is a top fundraiser for the Democrats, and he raised millions for Biden before suggesting the then-president to call it quits. He claimed “the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fundraiser was not the Joe ’big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020."
Many Democrats agreed with Clooney’s piece, and some even suggested later that Biden dropped out too late. But Clooney was furious about assumptions that Obama was his puppet master and coerced the piece.
“You f----d me,” he told the MSNBC producer. “You’re my friend. You should have stood up for me.”
The tense exchange only escalated from there. The producer reportedly snapped: “George, this is not a f---ing movie. There’s no script.”
Clooney replied, “f--- you!”
The producer then said “f--- yourself.“
That wasn’t the end of it. The dramatic conversation allegedly took place over multiple calls over several hours. The producer tried to shrug off responsibility by saying he can’t control what the hosts say. He also claimed that “this is a morning talk show on a cable channel. Nobody gives a f--- if we say [Biden] should get out or if he should stay in.”
The producer told Clooney that they’d try to take it down the following morning.
Clooney said he wasn’t sure he could trust the producer.
“If you don’t trust me, stop f---ing calling me,” the producer responded.
In a recent interview with CBS’ Stephen Colbert, Clooney cursed again while expressing frustration about the Democrats losing the election.
“Well I don’t know, what am I supposed to do?” he asked. “Storm the f---ing Capitol?”
