Movie star and lifelong Democrat George Clooney added his voice to calls for President Joe Biden to leave the presidential race on Wednesday, just weeks after headlining a fundraiser that brought in a record single-night haul for the president’s reelection campaign.
In a New York Times opinion piece, Clooney expressed his admiration for Biden but voiced concerns that the Democratic Party would lose the presidential race and any control in Congress if Biden remained the nominee.
“This isn’t only my opinion; this is the opinion of every senator and congress member and governor that I’ve spoken with in private,” wrote Clooney, who has hosted several high-dollar Hollywood fundraisers, including one for Biden last month.
Clooney argued that the party should select a new nominee at its convention next month, acknowledging that the process would be “messy” but would “wake up” voters in the party’s favor. He mentioned Vice President Kamala Harris and Governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, and Gavin Newsom of California as potential candidates who should be considered.
Focusing much of his piece on Biden’s age, Clooney noted the differences he observed in the 81-year-old president during their recent Los Angeles event compared to years past.
“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,” Clooney wrote. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Last month, Clooney, along with Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand, took the stage for a fundraiser that raised a record $30 million-plus for Biden, aiming to energize would-be supporters for a White House contest they described as among the most consequential in U.S. history.
Luminaries from the entertainment world have increasingly lined up to support Biden’s campaign. Leading up to the fundraiser, Clooney’s name appeared on numerous fundraising appeals from the campaign, which he called “the fight of our lives.”
Representatives for Clooney did not immediately return a message seeking comment on his decision, when precisely he had made it, or how recently he had spoken with Biden.
Biden has refused to end his reelection bid despite his weak debate performance against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on June 27.
