As he previewed in yesterday’s Berlinale press conference, George Clooney met with Chancellor Angela Merkel today in Berlin. Or should I say… the Clooneys met with Merkel. Amal came along with George to discuss the ongoing European refugee crisis. I’m assuming Merkel’s office released this ^^ official portrait of Amal and George in Merkel’s office. Apparently, they met for “an hour” this morning.
What bugs me about this is that Chancellor Merkel has been one of the few European leaders to really welcome and embrace refugees, and it’s been that way for months now. It bugs me that the story being told – in trade papers and American media outlets – like George is really moving the needle in any way. Merkel is already where she needs to be. This meeting is kind of a waste of her time.
Meanwhile, George wants us to feel sorry for Amal! Poor Amal. George told journalists that it’s “hard” for Amal to be married to him, became fame.
“It’s harder for her. We were in New York and Amal, who lived in New York for six years and worked there, said: ‘Let’s walk to Central Park’, and I said: ‘You can’t’. I say this with the understanding, that no one wants to hear people who have fame and everything, complain. I’m not complaining, I’m just explaining it. You can’t walk out when there is 30 people follow you everywhere. That is always the case. For her that is the real adjustment. It’s been fine at public events but it’s been very hard when she is teaching at Columbia, when people follow her into the classroom where she is teaching. Those are difficult things for her. But she handles it like a pro, she’s great. She’s so great at what she does.”
Maybe it was truly difficult for Amal to transition into being married to a famous person, but from the way she looked and acted from the very beginning, she always seemed to take to it like a duck to water. Even when the Clooneys were in New York, she was doing pap strolls like a pro.
George also said that they’re still doing the endless remodel of their home in the English countryside: “We are remodeling our house which is hell. We’ve got married and remodeled the house. We are having fun.”
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
Damn this sham of a marriage.
+1
+100000000000
Why is Angela Merkel meeting with an American actor and his wife instead of German women who were sexually assaulted in Cologne by some of these newcomers? Where are her priorities?
Exactly
Funny thing: in today’s online “Daily mail” there is an article about Clooneys. It reads traditionally kneepad-y, but all of a sudden there is a following sentence:
“It’s always been clear from Clooney’s marital alliance with Amal that he has strong political ambitions”. That made me laugh real hard. On another matter – the tone of the coverage of George’s meeting with Merkel in Germany (where i live) ranges from puzzled to really sarcastic. (Among other things – “As is Frau Merkel hadn’t enough on her plate”, “Ex-sexiest man alive and Frau Merkel” and “At least someone agrees with Merkel”). I guess this publicity stunt didn’t go well for both parties involved
Why isn’t he meeting with American leaders who should be takig more refugees? So so so many more. They are partially responsible for the mess in the first place.
And also, as someone mentioned, while Anglea has done a lot for the refugees, a lot of the burden has fallen in countries that can’t handle it financially, nor do the refugees want to stay in those countries. It’s a complicated issue. These people need to be helped, but the situation could have been handled better.
Right, very complicated issue.
And I don’t understand which contribution these two can give. Because, you know, there are countries that could do a lot more but apparently they’re not interested in raising the issue. Probably because US and UK are among them.
Secondly, there’s no need of celebs to raise awareness, since the public opinion in Europe is widely discussing the issue since months.
Finally, within the same country there are neighborhoods that bear the burden most, and usually they’re the poorest ones. Certainly not the ones these two live in. And knowing that they have been spending months in renovating their mansion, talking with leaders and posing for the relevant photo ops, while Greek and Italian families (not to mention other ME countries) have been sharing their lunch, their hospitals and facilities and even their homes with the refugees on the reg for years now, is really disturbing.
Merkel is already in hot sit in country & this not going to help her, wrong move
It would be a political suicide for her if she agreed to do anything more, but I suspect that meeting with Clooney might be her way to improve her PR game.
“Merkel is already where she needs to be.” – it might seem that way from afar, but she got in a really, really big trouble for accepting so many refugees (or rather – doing it in a completely wrong way, and accepting more fraudsters than actual refugees) and there’s an unbelievable amount of hatred aimed at her from every corner of Europe. I live in Germany now and people get red with anger at the very mention of her name.
Is already PR disaster as many news online in Germany are mocking her on Twitter for this visit
Before the refugee crisis she was extremely popular, but now she is in serious trouble in Germany. I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides not to run again. There are a lot of German people extremely angry at her right now.
True. And from the media coverage in Italy (where I was living until a month ago), it seemed that Merkel only changed her tune to a more welcoming note on migration issues after a few, well documented by the media, “bad interactions” with immigrants (I recall a little girl asking her publicly if her family would get to stay in Germany and Merkel’s harsh and cold answer). After a couple of those embarassing moments, Merkel all of a sudden became an angelic (Ah!) protector of all refugees, when that issue arose. My guess is her team was worried about her looking like the mean ogre again. Why is “coolness” in the public perception of the political leader becoming so important in political issues? It’s tiring.
Oh, and why do American publications keep hailing Merkel as the saviour of all of Europe? She’s been nothing but a shrewd, cold hearted master mind in bringing her own country ahead (often at the expense of other european countries…) economically and politically, and that is her FRACKING JOB. She’s a politician, for Pete’s sake!
Preach it! She simply can’t do more because European sentiments toward the refugees have soured due to poor screening of the people crossing the borders. Personally, I’m angry at the media’s lousy reporting on this matter because they’ve been too focused on a singular narrative to broadcast other facets of this crisis (i.e. in Zagreb there was footage of young men — possibly economic migrants — literally pulling women with babies off trains in order to take their seats, and that’s just the tip of a colossal iceberg.) The situation is tragic, frustrating, and now becoming increasingly confusing. To have the media throw the accusations at the EU for supposedly not doing enough is getting infuriating!
Also, I can’t understand why everyone keeps insisting that Merkel should do more…more of WHAT??? Why is no one criticizing the Gulf nations for refusing to welcome a single “brother” or “sister” who’s in distress? As for Clooney and Amal, this stinks of PR — this whole thing just feels so contrived, as if it’s intended to make him look like a good public servant while his wife gets to insatiably lap up more attention from the press. If anyone has a follow-up question for me, I’m guessing it’s along the lines of, “gee, tell us how you really feel.”
How dare George even go near this issue when he is not German or even European. This is none of his business. I hope plenty of Germans boycott his movies there now over this.
How dare George even go near this issue when he is not German or even European. This is none of his business. I hope plenty of Germans boycott his movies there now over this.
They only got the meet because George and Amal got in with David Milliband last year in California, this was set up way back then, they used him to get the meet, this is just another Clooney pr stunt and if you look at the picture with David in the rear he ain’t looking like a happy chappy. The penny may have finally dropped for him but it’s too late now! They used him as a means to their own end, why aren’t Georgie and wifey running off to the middle east to try and influence the complete lack of intake from the Saudi countries? Easy, their is no one they can befriend and influence there and Cameron has had absolutely naught to do with them, he isn’t falling for the schtick they are selling.
I know Amal was at Downing Street with her convict client but there are no pictures of her actually meeting the PM. They are nothing in the real world and this grates on George because he wants to be the big man who everyone talks about, yes people are talking but they aren’t saying anything good are they? Most people now see him for what he really is and what he really is is an immoral @ss who only has his own and his 1% buddies interests at heart. Does it show that I have zero respect for these people?
U know that head states can’t meet human right lawyer officially, she was at Cameron because her client is friend with Cameron that’s it, because HRLs sometimes defend dirty people & her firm defend some dirty people, is not good an PM to meet HRLs
Merkel may be where she needs to be but she is facing incredible pressure bot from her own constituents and the EU to adopt stricter measures. The celebrity sites are wrong if they are claiming that her current policies are anti immigrant BUT its important that the anti immigrant voices filling her ears be countered. Proud of Amal and George.
I have to admit: as a feminist and liberal… I’m VERY anti MIGRATION… because about 60% are migrants, looking for a better life. Nothing wrong with this per se BUT the problem is that there are MILLIONS of people coming from a background with zero respect for women and minorities. It is a sad fact that in the middle east and the african countries where a lot of the migrants (and also some of the refugees, esp. Syria, obviously) are coming from the social norm is that women are LESS than men. This men (about 90% of the migrants and about 70% of the refugees) have a very negative opionion of the value of women, homosexuals and also jews (in France a lot of jewish people are migrating because of this). So it is not so easy to so WELCOME without also being aware that a lot of new issues are raised. The backlash against women already started. (eg. Köln, public swimmingpools).
So there are obviously people who are legit refugees and they need our help but it is a complete different matter how to not forgo our own values in the process… and Merkel has no answers to this. Only: we can do it.
ps: I am living in Austria, we have even more refugees and migrants per capita than Germany in 2015
I think those of us who live in Europe do have a different perspective, unfortunately. A mass exodus like this can’t succeed if proper checks aren’t done. The fact that so many young, single men have arrived without any personal ID or documentation should have risen red flags IMMEDIATELY!
I think Canada learned from Europe’s mistake because my understanding is that the Liberal government agreed to refuse entry to all single men. Hell, even the Scandinavian countries are starting to sound like Donald Trump, and that’s really saying something. As for that story about that poor little boy who got attacked at the pool, the very thought of it makes my scalp hot with rage!
I don’t understand how Merkel is still in power because anywhere else in the world she would have been forced to resign. I think alot of people will boycott Clooney’s movies over this. He never even mentioned all the women in Germany who these migrants have sexually assaulted or the rape by a refugee of that little boy in Austria at the swimming pool. Is Clooney just dumb or is he totally insensitive?
I’m sorry, I’m all for helping the REAL refugees (big emphasis on the word REAL) but I’m also for big, massive control on who enters the EU and who doesn’t…
Ditto for the U.S.
Why do I think that Amal wouldn’t mind having 30 photographers following her around in Central Park?
Plus, New York is known as a city which is famously indifferent to celebrities. That’s one of the reason people like David Bowie and John Lennon – each about a zillion times more famous than she is – chose to live there. Other celebs manage to go about their lives fairly normally in New York, yet we’re to believe that someone who is known only as the wife of a fading star can’t go outside her front door without being harassed? Not to mention that much of this supposedly unwanted attention could easily have been avoided if she and George had had a low-key wedding and if she didn’t accept ridiculously expensive outfits from designers in return for making sure that she’s phographed in them every other day.
And don’t you just LOVE how George took great care to remind us that the missus is ‘teaching’ at Columbia?
He’s so sad. I feel for them. They’re very outdated with their law-is-so-elite perspective. Clearly still living in the 90s, before the tech, finance, consulting, and engineering industries overtook the lawyers and doctors.
Ethelreda:
And it’s so odd that Columbia, an institutional of higher learning,forbade any of the students in her class (I suspect it was a 2-3 wk. lecture series) from talking to the media. I wondered if they were allowed to evaluate her ‘teaching’…I remember having to complete evals on instructors in college.
Yeah, with some outragegeously expensive outfit, dressed up like a catwalk model.
“Why do I think that Amal wouldn’t mind having 30 photographers following her around in Central Park?”
Yeah, with some outragegeously expensive outfit, dressed up like a catwalk model.
Well considering she wore a Pre-Fall ’16 Versace coat (product placement – price not specified), an Oscar De La Renta Pre-Fall ’16 jumper and skirt combo (more product placement at $2,500+ combined), a Dior bag, and Manolo Blahnik shoes to meet poverty stricken, conflict harmed Syrian refugees, I’d bet you’re right Intuitive.
I won’t post as to the extent the Clooney’s exploitation of ‘fame’ now sickens me. I’ve made that clear before. Neither will I post on my wider thoughts on the crisis and Merkel as my views are long and strong and not appropriate for lengthy posting on a fora such as this.
But to those seeing the Clooneys in all their distasteful opportunistic glory now, I join you eyes wide open.
Clooney should meet with the American congress to ask what the US is doing for the refugees!!! Just because the US is far away that doesn’t mean that it should ignore the refugees crisis especially since its foreign policy (Iraqi war) is partly responsible for creating more tension in the region. I’ll just copy what I said in the other thread.
“I’m tired of this narrative of Merkel saving the refugees when Germany and other northern European countries couldn’t bother to help with the refugees crisis until it arrived to Calais. Greece, Italy and Spain had to deal with it and save people after shipwrecks on the daily for a coupleof years now without the help of the EU, who’s now threatening to suspend Schengen. And I say this as a person who thinks that we could do more to help the refugees but at the same time it shouldn’t be all on the shoulders of southern European countries who can’t “close the borders”. The relocation of the refugees never really happened like it should have so I find ridiculous that we’re looking at Merkel as if she’s this great humanitarian. End of the rant. “
In comparison to the stories coming out of places like Finland, shes been a star. But I agree more could be done, not least by the US. Its not just the Iraq war, its pandering to Saudi Arabia and the way they’ve handled Iran. In all honesty Syria is yet another example of US tampering with the balance in that region to horrendous consequences. The least the US government can do is pay for the mess they helped create.
Amen
I agree with your commment. I remember the time when the Italian premier Renzi was pressing for distributions quotas because Italy was left alone. Noone was ready to say “yes”. Frau Merkel wasn’t an exeption. And why not? The refugees were so far away and one whole country was a buffer, so no problem, right? And some months after the wave came trough the backdoor and now we beg for more engagement. There is no plan and no preparation only endless discussions…
I don’t get as what exactly the Clooneys met with Merkel. PR profile boosting much?
I understand what he is saying. Just because he is rich and famous, doesn’t mean he still doesn’t have problems, yeah is not the same as us common people. But who doesn’t want privacy, I want to be able to walk in central park.
That said, if they wanted serious privacy, they can go ahead and move to Utah or some obscure state.
For two months we didnt see one photo of them, they get photographed when they want to, by there own payed for papz, nobody would bother with them at all if the photogs werent get paid to do so by them.
How he is going to help Europe when Europe itself are struggling to find a solution for the crisis, & why now he wants to help, as the refugees crisis had been on the news for months now
Thats what I was thinking, were was he last summer, when the crisis was at its worst, oh yeah he was hanging out at his Lake Como mansion, wining and dining his fake wife and her famehungry family. This guy is the biggest fake in Hollywood and his wife is an even bigger fake and fameho, this little meeting was nothing more than pr for him and that poser of a wife, just to make them seem important, its truly laughable.
Clooney is a big phoney. Trying to make himself relevant. He should take lessons from the Jolie Pitts and just do. He is such a poser that he and his new wife make a great couple. Always about attention for him and not the cause. Late to the battle as usual but he needs the positive press because his movie bombed.
Shame his PR stunt happens while millions of lives are at stake. In the real world, not in a damn movie.
We all know the Kloons are there for PR. Lol.
And he needs to STFU about privacy. He was the one who made a spectacle about his engagement and marriage. Claiming he wants privacy and announced where he was getting married. They both seemed to enjoy the royal wedding and all the attention and media coverage and now we’re supposed to feel sorry for her because she can’t have a privacy? Give me a break. She wasn’t born yesterday, she knew it was bound to happen and she gladly accepted it. I mean, can you blame her? From being a folder holder of a case to now being the front and center?
“he needs to STFU about privacy.”
My guess is that some of his comments are not spontaneous. Amal’s pap walks have generated an impression that is not positive and perhaps George’s comments are his effort to soften the perception of Amal.
Aside from this, I remember it being PUBLICIZED that they were so much in love that they would not spend more than two weeks apart. It looks as if they are leading fairly separate lives and meet up every month or so..
Poor Amal. This from the couple who had the most public wedding inviting paps and posing in their speedboats. Sorry but what human rights lawyer is all about designer fashion and pap strolls? It’s hard to think she actually cares about the refugee crisis when she’s all dolled up like on a catwalk.
The DM just reported the following re: their trip from Berlin to London ,”Despite it being dark outside, the British-Lebanese barrister – born Alamuddin – rocked large sunglasses over her camera-ready, flawless complexion….sunglasses at night?
I hate them both. Is this terrible?
Merkel is a legend, doing extraordinary work in the face of constant challenges. She doesn’t need some overrated actor coming in and pretending he 1) knows more than her 2) knows anything about her job 3) has any impact on her 4) is helping her in any way.
His wife is fine. She’s a lawyer. That’s a real job which requires some education. Great. But she isn’t the leader of a democratic nation. She isn’t a top barrister. Anyone who has the time for the social and public events that they do, to say nothing of the vacations and publicity, I seriously doubt is pulling a 40 hour week, to say nothing of the 80-100 hour weeks that SUPER IMPRESSIVE PEOPLE (as we are made to believe she is) actually do.
And teaching at Columbia? Give me a *** breaking. They hire celebrities and anyone else in the news for a hot minute to come and give a brief lecture or two. This does not make her a professor.
I think what irritates me most is that they are pretty, simple people who entertain. That’s fine. But there are other people who slave away at actually making a difference and having an impact who receive .001% of the attention, benefits, or opportunities that these celebrity “world experts” do.
Go back to your overrated acting, your unimpressively produced films, and your spoiled, boring life.
/rant finished.
Thank you. These two are really media hungry. I’m sick of watching poor George trying to get some soft power credibility by talking about his oversold wife. Sorry, George, you’ll never be elite to me.
Huzzah! I hate ’em too, as I’m sure everyone has deduced from my posts on here. How many photo ops will it take for me to buy their marriage and/or all their purported accomplishments? Ain’t gonna happen! The whole schtick is a pack of lies that their machine keeps mercilessly shoving down our throats.
I am with you, they make my skin crawl.
Slow clap
Could not agree more
Random thought: what if Clooney is using this meeting to get her take and perspective, pre-and-post her decision to welcome refugees, before doing some lobbying for the cause in the U.S.? For the most part, I think we (Americans) are aware of the complications going on as a result of that policy, and the right/conservatives are using that to turn away refugees– so what can we do to avoid some of those complications? Am I being optimistic in thinking maybe that’s why they’re meeting?
Dont be fooled, its pr for them and nothing more, they could nt give a hoot.
I don’t think this show will make any of the girls that have been raped by poor refugee guys feel better about the situation. It’s great to help real refugees in need, but you don’t throw open the gates and welcome the world. Listen to the real truth of what is going on there because of her policy on this matter.
+1
Merkel really screwed up and has created problems that are going to affect Germany for years, and make it harder for legitimate refugees to get help. And George and Amal are a JOKE…he’s a faded actor whose career is tanking and she’s a famewhore who would probably call the paps to let them know she was heading for the park so she could flick her hair for the cameras.
This. I agree 100%
The funniest is the way Amal gets all dolled up at LA airport in haute couture and with makeup caked on and a blowout just to do a pap stroll before getting on a plane. She’s desperate and pathetic. No wonder all George’s movies are tanking. He’s trying to promote his movies using his WIFE who no one likes. And audiences are rejecting BOTH of them.
Agree, they pay the papz to follow them around, thats clear to see. They are desperate fameho’s the both of them.
I simply get angry at this. To whose benefit is it? Clooney is such a poser, and a sucker for acknowledgement. But I find it more disturbing that Merkel agreed to this. I don’t think it was smart, however. She faces a lot of storm since month for simply not overlooking the long-distance consequences of her actions. By the way, people in the refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon have warned for YEARS about this movement of millions, and Merkel was one of those ignoring it. Only when the people were basically in front of her door, she opened, probably thinking that other European countries would do the same. This, too, was short-sighted. And now Clooney comes over for coffee, and ensures her he agrees with her? I would think he could do something different at a different place, if he really wanted to help. But honestly, I don’t think he cares at all.
“It’s harder for her. We were in New York and Amal, who lived in New York for six years and worked there, said: ‘Let’s walk to Central Park’, and I said: ‘You can’t’.” LOL. He really thinks people are stupid. Shut up Clooney.
He really sounds like a tool, doesnt he.
The reports say that George Clooney requested the meeting. David Miliband GB’s former foreign secretary. was also at the meeting. Folks may remember that Miliband relocated to LA in late 2015 and was pictured lunching with G and A. I am guessing that he was involved in organizing the meeting.
Exactly! I posted this above, they used David to get the meet, but then they use everyone they possibly can don’t they? Everything he does now is nothing but an empty pr stunt.
Since George has openly supported Democrats and especially Pres. Obama (Obama has referred to him as a “good friend”), I initially thought that he might has used contacts in the Obama administration to arrange this(there was rumor in the past that his contacts arranged the teaching gig @ Columbia for Amal), but like you I suspect it’s more likely that Miliband was key. But, why would Merkel meet with them?
David is the CEO of the IRC which oversees humanitarian relief in more than 30 destitute or war torn countries, they met with David in CA last year for lunch, bearing in mind that their paths had never crossed before it was probably Clooney who arranged the meet with possible offers of donations to the charity, Merkel would agree to meet them at David’s request simply because of the position he holds and the benefits and relief he may be offering from the charity.
Merkel has suffered a huge setback in popularity in Germany for her open door policy and the awful attacks which have occurred by the migrants, she needs an image boost as much as anyone right now, a lot of politicians use celebs in just that way and usually to good effect! Not the case here though, she should have factored in the outrage of her countrymen on these attacks and the fact that these issues are never raised by the celebs nor do they ever offer their sympathy to the victims at all, they only ever talk in a monologue and on one subject, they stick to the script but quite often that script is warped and skewed beyond belief. This was for the Clooneys or as they are referred to on sky news comments ‘the looneys’, nothing more than a pr stunt, George is a fading and failing actor, the only time they are ever seen is at rc events or at staged and paid pap strolls, they are insignificant and they don’t like that one bit.
For Merkel who grossly miscalculated it will come back and bite her, David can return to the states and back to relative obscurity as he has lived and worked off the radar for years now, the C’looneys can always try and get on the bandwagon of the next disaster but in the meantime they too will have to return to their relatively obscure lives in the Uk because they certainly aren’t making any real connections on the social or status ladder here are they? Too many people have woken up to their BS and the real ringers in this country are no thanking them very much! Both his and her connections are far too dubious and dangerous for UK politicians.
Sorry about the essay! 😉
P.S It was either as you say the Obama admin or her boss who got her the gig at
Columbia but they are quite well known for simply giving the gig to people with a celeb name.
Thanks for your thoughts…looney-Clooneys indeed.
As I thought about this meeting, I was reminded of Malala Yousafzai. This young girl who is wise beyond her years is the real humanitarian deal. She is trying to raise $1.4 billion for Syrian school children.
“We can still help them, we can still protect them. They are not lost yet. They need schools. They need books. They need teachers. This is the way we can protect the future of Syria.”
I could understand any head of state making time to meet with Malala, but not the Clooneys.
BYW…
“The U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees says Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has donated $50,000 to rebuild a U.N. school in Gaza damaged during this summer’s Israel-Hamas war. UNRWA says Malala is donating all of the proceeds of the $50,000 World Children’s Prize, which she collected in Stockholm on Wednesday.”
In response to what George said to the reporter’s question…I think if George were really doing something-as Malala is-we would know it!
Yea must be hell renovating ur million pound mansion and what a hard life amal has having people following her around – yea theyll be able to relate to th lives of refugees.
And its simple – the EU should adopt a ‘women and children first policy’ .
Well said.
These two are giving me an Underwood vibe but operating at a Simpson level. So your career is failing and no one likes the wife so let’s insert ourselves into a complex issue that has nothing to with you… and preach like your the saviour of the universe. They deserve all the negative crap they are getting, piss off Clooney and take your over-hyped, overdressed wife with you.
LMAO, you tell em!
You ain’t gonna be president Goerge… it’s not gonna happen. No matter how stylish your wife is…
Re: Merkel, have wondered about her position on the migrants and promise to admit so many to Germany. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned in many of the discussions as a factor that may be underlying her generosity, is the collective guilt re: WWII and the Jews. For a long time, even the schoolbooks in German schools did not include the facts on Germany’s collaboration with the attempted extinction of the Jews. I can imagine that it takes a long time to process events like this. Anyway, I suspect it is one underlying factor in mass admission of Syrian migrants. I have to say, having lived in then (West) Germany many moons ago, it was then like so many homogenous countries where foreigners were not easily assimilated.