George Clooney said he spoke out about Biden’s candidacy because he felt it was his duty

Actor George Clooney explained in a recent interview that he felt it was his responsibility to speak up when he asked President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 election race.
He shared these thoughts during a conversation with CNN, where he reflected on the controversial opinion piece he wrote for The New York Times in July 2024.
When asked if it was a brave move to write the op-ed, Clooney responded that he didn’t see it that way. Instead, he described it as a “civic duty,” something he felt compelled to do for the good of the country.
Clooney, who has been an active supporter of the Democratic Party for years, said that what really pushed him to write the article was seeing fellow Democrats not being honest about Biden’s condition. He believed they were ignoring or covering up the president’s visible struggles with age and health.
He explained that the man he saw at a June 2024 fundraiser didn’t seem like the Joe Biden he knew back in 2010 or even during the 2020 campaign. Clooney said Biden appeared much more frail and not as mentally sharp. He felt it was important to speak the truth, especially when others on his political side were not doing so.
In his op-ed, Clooney had written that despite Biden’s strong character and long service, he could not win the fight against time. He described the fundraiser as a moment that made things clear—Biden wasn’t the same energetic leader people had once known. According to Clooney, Biden froze onstage during the event and had to be helped off by former President Barack Obama. This incident left a deep impression on him.
Even though Clooney had just helped raise $30 million for Biden at that event, he soon felt that continuing to support the president’s candidacy would hurt the Democratic Party’s chances in the upcoming election. He pointed to Biden’s poor performance during the June 27, 2024, debate against Donald Trump as a moment that confirmed his fears.
Clooney urged Democratic leaders to stop pretending nothing was wrong, criticizing them for ignoring the concerns of millions of Americans who had watched the debate. He strongly believed that if Biden remained the Democratic candidate, the party would lose the election in November.
Although some people were upset with him for expressing these views, Clooney stood by his decision, saying that honesty and responsibility mattered more than staying silent.