This story isn’t really about something George and Amal Clooney actually did. But it’s an interesting story about a crazy person and her suspiciously interesting thoughts on the Clooneys. THR reports that the CEO of Time Warner, Jeff Bewkes, was trying to speak to shareholders during an annual meeting and one women – a shareholder – tried to hijack the talk by going OFF about the Clooneys and their (alleged) politics.
Things got testy at Time Warner’s annual meeting on Friday when CEO Jeff Bewkes found it necessary to interrupt a shareholder who, during a question and answer period, suggested there was something nefarious about George Clooney’s marriage to Amal Alamuddin.
“I have a compensation question. How much have you paid George Clooney for Gravity and Argo?” the woman asked Bewkes before launching into a rambling, minutes-long attack on the actor and his Lebanese bride, accusing the couple of funneling money to enemies of America and Israel. “Alamuddin has been portrayed in the press as a sexy, international civil rights lawyer. She is not. She is a criminal lawyer. A defense attorney who puts the worst tyrants back on the streets,” the woman said.
Bewkes gave the shareholder plenty of rope but eventually interrupted. “Excuse me. We cannot allow this meeting to be the place where personal and political views from any of us are expressed,” the CEO said.
“I would like to know how much Mr. Clooney has received, how much money is going to Lebanon and to his wife,” she said, having ticked off Clooney’s alleged expenses for his wedding, honeymoon and homes he has purchased abroad.
“In terms of what any of our actors, directors, writers make as citizens of the United States, they’re free to spend their money where they choose, and it is not something that our company has any influence over, or power about, nor do we have knowledge of it, and we should not further detour this meeting to discuss those matters,” Bewkes said.
She closed by accusing journalists at Time Warner of misrepresenting Alamuddin in their reporting. “This is not a fashion show for a prime minister, clients who are in jail instead of running for elections or for Lebanese tribunal.”
The thing is… while the woman did come across as unhinged, we really can’t say for sure that she’s wrong. George Clooney’s press machine has been working overtime for more than a year to try to create an image of Amal as the most brilliant, humanitarian, intellectual, glamorous, fashionable unicorn-lawyer in the world and for many people, that campaign has fallen flat. Because we actually don’t know much about the real Amal – she is still an enigma, which adds to her allure, of course, except that being a professional enigma means that people really don’t know the basics of where she stands on many political issues. If we’re supposed to judge her politics from her legal work, yes, she has represents tyrants and despots and she’s been on the “wrong side” of some issues.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.
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