George Clooney Blasts Daily Mail over “False and Irresponsible Story” about Fiancee
By Opeyemi Oladunjoye
American Actor, George Clooney has accused the Daily Mail of publishing a “false and irresponsible story” about his fiancée, human rights lawyer, Amal Alamuddin.
The actor-director issued a strongly-worded statement to the popular American national newspaper, USA Today, following the publication of a Mail article which claimed that Alamuddin’s mother, Baria, opposed their forthcoming marriage on religious grounds, citing unnamed family members as its source.
Clooney wrote: “I want to speak to the irresponsibility of Monday’s Daily Mail report. I seldom respond to tabloids, unless it involves someone else and their safety or well being.
“The Daily Mail has printed a completely fabricated story about my fiancée’s mother opposing our marriage for religious reasons. It says Amal’s mother has been telling ‘half of Beirut’ that she’s against the wedding. It says they joke about traditions in the Druze religion that end up with the death of the bride. Let me repeat that: the death of the bride.”
In his statement, he tackled the key details of the Mail’s story, saying: “None of the story is factually true. Amal’s mother is not Druze. She has not been to Beirut since Amal and I have been dating, and she is in no way against the marriage.”
Clooney, however, claims that the false opposition claim was not “the issue”. He said that he is used to the English tabloid “making up stories” about him, and that there were larger issues at stake.
He wrote:”The irresponsibility, in this day and age, to exploit religious differences where none exist, is at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous. We have family members all over the world, and the idea that someone would inflame any part of that world for the sole reason of selling papers should be criminal.”
Clooney, whose father was a TV journalist and broadcaster, continued: “I’m the son of a newsman; I accept the idea that freedom of speech can be an inconvenience to my private life from time to time.”
He revealed that he was concerned by the fact that the Mail’s false story had been picked up by hundreds of other tabloids.
The 53-year-old concluded his statement by writing: “The Daily Mail, more than any other organisation that calls itself news, has proved time and time again that facts make no difference in the articles they make up.
“And when they put my family and my friends in harm’s way, they cross far beyond just a laughable tabloid and into the arena of inciting violence. They must be so very proud.”
He went ahead to cite three “idiotic” and false stories that the Mail has fabricated about him and Alamuddin: she was pregnant, their marriage will take place on the set of Downton Abbey and he is running for political office. These are, he claims, stories “they sit at their computers and invent.”
The Daily Mail Online version of the story was amended six hours after it was originally posted on the website on Monday. But it still states that Alamuddin’s mother, Baria, “is not so impressed” with Clooney and “wanted her to marry within their strict Lebanese religious sect, according to close family friends.”
The newspaper didn’t respond to any of Clooney’s Accusations.