Speaking to reporters at the Cannes Film Festival in France, Hollywood A-lister George Clooney predicted that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will never be elected President of the United States.
“There’s not going to be a President Donald Trump,” a confident Clooney said Thursday at a Cannes Film Festival press junket for his latest film Money Monster.
“That’s not going to happen,” Clooney added to applause from the room full of journalists.
The 55-year-old star said voters in America won’t let “fear” force them to support Trump’s White House bid.
“Fear is not going to be something that drives our country,” Clooney said. “We’re not going to be scared of Muslims or immigrants or women. We’re not actually afraid of anything. We’re not going to use fear. So that’s not going to be an issue.”
Last month, Clooney used his high-powered Hollywood connections to host a pair of pricey fundraising events for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
An April 15 fundraiser featuring George and his wife Amal Clooney saw San Francisco Democrats shell out $175,000 per plate for Clinton’s presidential campaign. That event was followed by a Clooney-hosted, $33,400-per-person fundraiser at the couple’s Studio City home.
Both George and his wife Amal have publicly slammed Trump’s proposed temporary ban on Muslim travel to America, and his plan to build a wall on the Mexico border.
“Building walls,” Amal Clooney said in a recent interview with the BBC, “doesn’t represent “U.S. values.”
Clooney’s latest film, Money Monster, sees the actor play a Jim Cramer-type TV finance guru who is taken hostage live on air by a disgruntled viewer. The film — co-starring Julia Roberts and directed by Jodie Foster — had its world premiere at Cannes on Thursday.
Box office analysts predict the film will have a disappointing opening at the North American box office this weekend.
Clooney told reporters he blames America’s ratings-starved news media for Trump’s political rise.
“Trump is a result of the news programs not asking follow-up questions,” he said. “It’s really easy because the cable news numbers go up. And 24-hour news doesn’t mean you get more news. It just means you get the same news more.”
Today’s version of TV News, Clooney said, is a “great disaster in the way we inform ourselves.”
Money Monster opens everywhere Friday, May 13.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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