“The View” co-host Joy Behar has a bone to pick with George Clooney, who made national headlines this week after publishing an op-ed for The New York Timesin which he urged Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 race for president against Donald Trump. The actor argued that Biden has the chance to save democracy by stepping aside as the Democratic nominee for president.
“President Biden is fighting right now for his political future,” Behar said on “The View” the day after Clooney’s op-ed was published (via Entertainment Weekly). “George Clooney wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times claiming that after he saw Biden’s condition at the recent fundraiser, he doesn’t think he’s up for the gig. George Clooney? Couldn’t he tell him that in person, for god’s sakes?”
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Behar criticized Clooney for failing to mention in his op-ed all of the standout accomplishments that Biden has achieved as president, including his economic track record.
“I’m mad at George Clooney right now,” Behar said before joking: “Even though we dated. I wish!”
Clooney, whoco-hosted a huge Hollywood fundraiserfor Biden in June that raised a record $28 million, published his op-ed following Biden’s disastrous performance in the first 2024 presidential debate against Trump.
“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 in the op-ed. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
“This is about age. Nothing more,” Clooney added. “But also nothing that can be reversed. We are not going to win in November with this president. On top of that, we won’t win the House, and we’re going to lose the Senate. 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. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly. Joe Biden is a hero; he saved democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.”
Behar’s “The View” co-host Sunny Hostin agreed that Clooney should not have gone public with his thoughts on Biden in this way.
“I don’t like that George Clooney did this, I don’t like that George Clooney aired this dirty laundry to the world,” Hostin said. “I think these conversations are happening, I think they should be happening because our democracy is at stake, but they should be happening privately with the Commander-in-Chief, who we should have the utmost respect for.”
Co-hostAlyssa Farah Griffin, however, pushed back against Behar, saying she “respectfully” disagreed and that “Joe Biden’s feelings don’t matter more than our country.”
“This is not the media, this is not a narrative, these are Democrats, lifelong, who want to defeat Donald Trump and who know how to win races, saying that Joe Biden cannot win as things are going,” Griffin said. “It’s top Obama advisors, top Clinton advisors, the biggest, most prolific democratic fundraiser, George Clooney — these are people who want to see Donald Trump defeated. They’re not doing this for fun or sport, they want to see Joe Bien do better.”
Clooney is one of many Hollywood voices who have now spoken out urging Biden to drop out of the race, including Rob Reiner, Stephen King, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and more. The day after the first presidential debate, “The View” hosts Sarah Haines and Griffin both shared their beliefs that Biden should step aside.
“I think President Biden needs to step down and be replaced,” Haines said at the time. “If we want to defeat Donald Trump in November then I absolutely think that…Democrats need to stop spinning the age problem. A lot of people are concerned with his age and the Democrats have twisted themselves into a pretzel saying, ‘Don’t believe your lying eyes. It’s not true.’ Joy Behar is 81. Joy Behar at 81 is not Joe Biden at 81 and that was on full display last night.”
Griffin added, “Biden’s performance was so bad it eclipsed everything Donald Trump said. Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy. We need someone who can beat him…[Joe] needs to put country before his own ambition and he needs to step aside and pass the baton. Mark my words, if it’s Trump vs. Biden, it’s going to be Trump.”
Trump himself took to Truth Socialfollowing Clooney’s op-ed to fire back at the Oscar winner, calling him a “fake movie actor” who “never came close to making a great movie.”
“What does Clooney know about anything?” Trump asked. “He uses the Democrat ‘talking point’ that Biden, the WORST President in the history of the United States, has ‘saved our Democracy.’ No, Crooked Joe was the one who WEAPonIZED Law Enforcement against his political Opponent, who created the most devastating INFLATION in the history of our Country, who Embarrassed our Nation in Afghanistan, and whose crazy Open Border Policy has allowed millions of people to illegally pour into our Country, many from prisons and mental institutions. Crooked Joe Biden didn’t save our Democracy, he brought our Democracy to its knees. Clooney should get out of politics and go back to television. Movies never really worked for him!!!”
Since the debate, Biden has stressed that he has no intention of dropping out of the race for president. His next one-on-one press interviewwill be with NBC News’ Lester Holt and air Monday, July 15.
