George Clooney completely shut down a Fox News producer who attempted to confront him outside the theater that is hosting his new play in New York City.
In an attempt to get out of the situation, he offered some sarcastic praise for network star Jesse Watters and commented on how “nervous” his colleague appeared.
Airing the footage on Jesse Watters Primetime on Wednesday night, the eponymous host framed the interaction around an incident in which former President Joe Biden didn’t recognize Clooney, whom he has long known, at a fundraiser last year.
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“We all knew Biden was losing it,” Watters said, adding that Fox producer Johnny Belisario had raised the issue with Clooney outside a performance of Goodnight and Goodluck in New York City.
“Jesse Watters has a question for you,” Belisario said, as Clooney kept his head down, signing autographs.
“George, why did you wait so long to speak about Biden’s condition?” Belisario then asked, prompting a response from the actor.
“Oh, hi man. Are you recording us now? Say hi to Jesse for me. I’m a huge fan,” he joked.
Belisario replied that Watters “likes what you did with your hair.”
Moments later, the Fox producer asked Clooney if former President Barack Obama, a friend of his, had “used” him.
Clooney then approached Belisario.
“Why are you so nervous? You’re shaking!” he said, before turning to the Fox camera over Belisario’s shoulder.
“Literally, he’s shaking!”
Belisario was alluding to how Clooney wrote an op-ed for The New York Times last July calling for the then-president to bow out of the race.
Clooney has since defended that decision, calling it a “civic duty.” Nevertheless, the move drew speculation at the time concerning any possible influence being exerted by Obama.
Clooney denied that the former president was involved. After his op-ed was published, he reportedly even lashed out at an MSNBC producer after Morning Joe host Mika Brzezinski suggested that it was the work of Obama.
In his op-ed, Clooney wrote that “the one battle [Biden] 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.”
