George Clooney was one of the first celebrities to publicly condemn producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017. But describing himself as a “pretty positive guy” in a Sunday Times profile published Monday, the actor couldn’t help but point out how shining a light on Weinstein’s years of predation and sexual assault ultimately benefited society.
“On top of the terrible things Weinstein did, being a jerk at work is now not OK,” Clooney said when discussing the impact of the Me Too movement.
“The Tender Bar” director then brought up film and Broadway producer Scott Rudin, who announced he’d “step back” from his career in April due to allegations that he was abusive and violent in the workplace for decades.
“Just because you’re a boss, it doesn’t mean you get to shit on people,” Clooney said. “I’ve been the boss and the guy being shat on. You can’t get away with being a dick anymore — you’d get ratted out. Now there’s sometimes an overcorrection, where everyone points fingers, but that will settle. It always does. And I can’t imagine some producer having a casting session alone in his hotel room with a young girl anymore. It’s moving in the right direction.”
But Clooney is also well aware that there’s plenty of other injustices that need to surface in the public consciousness — though he seems to have enough self-awareness to admit that he doesn’t know what many of them will be.
“We’ll know when we see how wrong something else goes,” Clooney told the Times. “I’m sure there’s more and someone will tell us, then we’ll have to pay attention to it.”
To read Clooney’s full profile, head over to the Sunday Times.
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.