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Cesar Award: George Clooney Wins Prestigious Honor, Talks About Hate, Trump

By Aaron Homer
Published on: 04:38 PST, Feb 27, 2017

The Cesar Award is one of the highest honors in the French film industry, and when George Clooney won it last week, he used the occasion to talk about the dangers of hate in the Trump era, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

On Friday, Clooney and his very pregnant wife, Amal Clooney, were in Paris last week for the 42nd annual awards ceremony, where Clooney was to receive an honorary Cesar for the scope of his career. Once given a stage and a microphone, the 55-year-old used the occasion to express his dismay at Donald Trump.

Without naming names, but clearly speaking about Trump, Clooney said that the administration is already de-stabilizing the world, particularly when it comes to America’s allies and enemies.

“The actions of this president have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies and given considerable comfort to our enemies.”

Clooney then shifted some of the blame away from Trump himself and to the people who elected him.

“[The hate that got him elected] is not really his. He merely exploited it, and rather successfully.”

Because English isn’t the official language of the Cesar Award, Clooney spoke through a translator, French actor Jean Dujardin. Dujardin, of course, didn’t translate directly, and instead delivered a translation described as “wacky” and even got in his own dig at Trump.

“Donald Trump is a danger for the world.”

Amal Clooney, who is fluent in French, took the reins for George during the pre-award ceremonies, according to People. Speaking to a red-carpet reporter in French, Amal described their first joint visit to Paris together as “romantic.”

“It is a great honor for us to be here. It’s the first time we’re in Paris together so it’s a bit of a romantic weekend for us.”

According to the Cesar Award’s English-language portion of their website, the award dates back to 1974 and is given as a sort of French alternative to the American Academy Awards.

George Clooney is not the first entertainment personality to win an award and then use the occasion to discuss politics.

Just a few months ago, at the Golden Globe awards, Meryl Streep famously poked fun at Donald Trump during her acceptance speech, as the Washington Post reported at the time. While the crowd of mostly like-minded liberal-leaning celebrities nodded in agreement, or at least, fidgeted uncomfortably in their seats, conservatives — including Donald Trump himself — were outraged.

According to the Fix’s Aaron Blake, celebrities getting political during awards ceremonies might make the celebrities themselves and their peers in the crowd feel good, the process does little to nothing to change the minds of average Americans watching at home. Speaking in the context of Streep’s digs at Trump during the Golden Globes, Blake says that opinion on the matter is likely split 50/50.

“There are basically two camps right now on ever-partisan social media: Those who think Meryl Streep’s speech Sunday criticizing President-elect Donald Trump at the Golden Globes was great, and those who think this kind of thing is basically Why Donald Trump Won — i.e., elite Hollywood liberals going after the guy blue-collar voters chose to be their president.”

Do you believe that George Clooney was wrong to take shots at Donald Trump while he accepted his Cesar Award?

[Featured Image by Charley Gallay/Getty Images]

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