George Clooney has been a lifelong Democratic supporter, hosting fundraisers for President Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, Hillary Clinton in 2016, and Joe Biden in 2020, as well as a second for Biden in June 2024 which was the single largest fundraiser for the party ever, bringing in over $30 million.
Which is why his recent op–ed in the New York Times, calling on Biden to step down from the 2024 presidential race, has led to turmoil among the A-list supporters of the President, particularly after reports emerged that former President Obama knew George was going to publish his remarks and did not attempt to stop him.
George's friendship with Barack goes much deeper than policy, with the pair becoming pals over the years that they worked together, and now vacationing together with their wives, Michelle and Amal.
© GettyIt all began in 2006, when they met in April of that year at an event aimed at raising awareness about the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Later in 2006, when Barack was still an Illinois Senator, George wrote an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times calling the decision for Barack to run the "most electrifying thing to happen to the Democratic party since Kennedy".
After Barack kicked off his candidacy for President in 2007 George was among the first celebrities to donate $2,300 – the maximum amount allowed – to contribute, and a year later George hosted a $1000-a-ticket fundraiser at his home in Geneva, Switzerland for Obama's run against Senator John McCain.
For the first few years, George and Barack's relationship was professional only, with the ER star visiting the White House several times to discuss Darfur, but by 2012 it had blossomed into true friendship with George seated next to Michelle Obama at a State Dinner.
© AlamyLater that year Barack made a fundraising trip to Los Angeles where he played basketball with George, Don Cheadle, Tobey McGuire, and others, and Barack quipped to press after: "As you might expect, George and I won. We're all winners because nobody got hurt."
Barack's closeness with Hollywood's A-listers was a critique against him by many, but Barack often defended George, once claiming that George was "very protective about not bothering me".
© PA ImagesGeorge hosted a second fundraiser for Barack in May 2012, and raised $15 million at the $40,000-a-plate, and later that same year George narrated the video that aired at the Democratic National Convention that September, moments before Barack gave his keynote speech.
In 2013 George met his future-wife Amal Alumuddin and although the Obamas did not attend their star-studded 2014 wedding, the two couples did vacation together in 2017, after the Obamas had left the White House.
The former President and his wife stayed overnight at the Clooneys' estate in the English village of Sonning in early June, as the pair were welcoming their twins Alexander and Ella, where the four enjoyed a five-hour dinner and George and Barack played a game of basketball together. And it was by then that George and Barack had become close enough that George felt comfortable "sometimes" sending "racy" messages.
"A little bit. Not Scaramucci-racy, but … you know, I have over the years with my friends said a lot of really [outrageous things]," he told The Hollywood Reporter.
"I’ve had an e-mail exchange with Sacha Baron Cohen that’s some of the filthiest stuff, honestly. Amal will be on the chain and she’ll be upstairs and I’ll hear her scream, 'No!' because it’s just foul, and you think, 'Well, that would probably not be great if it came out.'"
© SplashNews.comIn 2019 Michelle and Barack, along with their daughters Malia and Sasha, visited George and Amal and the twins, at Villa Oleandra, the Lake Como villa George has called home for years.
They were pictured on various boats, and for one evening the two couples enjoyed dinner together at Hotel Villa D'Este, and in 2022 Michelle attended George and Amal's post Albie Awards party at The Mark Hotel in New York, NY.
© BACKGRIDBarack also honored George in a video tribute at his AFI Life Achievement Award ceremony in 2018, sharing: "He is a good man, a good friend, a good citizen and an outstanding maker of film."
It was through Barack that George met Joe Biden, the Vice-President of the United States between 2008 and 2016.
When Joe decided to run for President in 2020, George once again hosted a fundraiser, and Joe made an appearance at the 2022 White House reception for the Kennedy Center Honorees – a group that included George that year – sharing that he respected George's "deep empathy".
"He knows the work remains unfinished, yet he is unrelenting and undaunted. That's character in real life. And that's George Clooney," said Joe.
© SplashNews.comGeorge also said he considered Joe "a friend" in his July 10 op-ed for the New York Times before he went on to claim that "the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010".
"He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate," George continued.
A campaign official told CNN that "George Clooney left [the event] three hours before the president".
© GettyBut George's words sent shockwaves through the Hollywood elites and the Democratic party – even Michael Douglas has now admitted that it may be time for Joe to step aside – and it has since been claimed via Politico that "while Obama did not encourage or advise Clooney to say what he said, he also didn’t object to it".
Those reports, however, are a contrast to Barack's public tweet in the hours after the June debate, in which Barack reminded followers that "bad debate nights happen".
"But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself," read Obama's statement. "Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn't change that, and it's why so much is at stake in November."
