Megyn Slams George Clooney for Lecturing Americans About How Bad He Thinks Trump Is on ‘60 Minutes’

Good night, and good… lecture?

George Clooney is currently making his Broadway debut in the stage adaptation of his 2005 film Good Night, and Good Luck. He stars as legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow, which apparently makes him an honorary media critic with a lot to say about the press’ treatment of Donald Trump.

During an appearance on 60 Minutes, Clooney got up on his soapbox to lecture about the role of the fourth estate in criticizing Trump and to take credit for shining a light on Joe Biden’s cognitive decline. On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Ben Shapiro, host of The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro Show, to discuss the actor’s arrogance and everything he got wrong in the interview.

Clooney on the Fourth Estate

Clooney was on 60 Minutes Sunday to promote his Broadway show. And because he is portraying a journalist in the play, the embattled news magazine apparently felt it was appropriate to get the Academy Award winner’s take on the state of the media in the Trump era.

60 Minutes was with Clooney and the cast of Good Night, and Good Luck at what appeared to be one of the initial table reads. The actor was seen telling his cast mates about the importance of the press. “When the other three estates fail – when the judiciary, the executive, and the legislative branches fail us – the fourth estate has to succeed,” he said somberly. 

Clooney reiterated that the fourth estate (i.e. the media) “has to succeed,” as he awkwardly acknowledged that 60 Minutes cameras were in the room. And in case there was any confusion, he made it clear who he was talking about, noting “ABC has just settled a lawsuit with the Trump administration.” 

What Clooney failed to mention was ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library due to lead anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly claiming – incorrectly – that the president was “found liable for rape” during a March 2024 interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) on This Week. The settlement saved the network from going through what promised to be an embarrassing discovery process in the defamation lawsuit Trump filed.

That omission was not lost on Shapiro. “Who are these journalists who are being so nice to the Trump administration,” he asked. “When he talks about settlements that these various outlets are making with President Trump, that is because they literally engaged in slander and libel… and they thought they were going to lose a big settlement to him. It is not because they’re trying to buy access to the president of the United States by paying him money.”

Anti-Trump Warning

During the interview portion of the 60 Minutes segment, the actor doubled down. “Journalism and telling truth to power has to be waged like war is waged. It doesn’t just happen accidentally,” Clooney claimed. “It takes people saying we’re going to do these stories, and you’re going to have to come after us and that is the way it is.”

To ensure audiences paying top dollar at the Winter Garden Theatre know the stakes, Clooney apparently ends each performance with a warning. “I guess at the end of this show, he turns around and looks at the audience and offers a lecture on how journalism is imploding, that what is happening with the Trump administration is like McCarthyism, that we need a full, free and fair press to hold this administration’s feet to the fire,” Megyn explained. “And this is why, I gather, he was profiled on 60 Minutes last night and asked about the fourth estate.”

Clooney’s problem? He has no authority to speak on the subject. “Just because you play some sort of a journalism expert and old hand in a play or a movie or otherwise, doesn’t make you one. No one gives a sh-t what you think is wrong with journalism,” Megyn added. “His preening, and moralism, and self-righteousness is on full display, apparently not only in this show, but last night on 60 Minutes.”

Clooney’s Revisionist History

As you may recall, Clooney found himself in a media firestorm last July after he penned an op-ed in The New York Times urging Joe Biden not to run for reelection. He cited his interaction with the then-president at a June fundraiser.

Megyn was among those who slammed Clooney at the time because he chose not to voice his concerns about Biden’s condition until after the American people watched his disastrous performance on the CNN debate stage against Trump.

The actor, meanwhile, seems to believe he did the country a great service. When asked about why he wrote the piece, Clooney told 60 Minutes it was a moral imperative. “I’ll make it kind of easy: I was raised, to tell the truth,” he said. “I had seen the president up close for this fundraiser, and I was surprised. And so I feel as if there was a lot of profiles in cowardice in my party through all of that, and I was not proud of that. And I also believed I had to tell the truth.”

Once again, Megyn wasn’t buying it. “It is such a lie… That fundraiser where he saw Biden almost falling off the stage and where [Barack] Obama came out to grab him was June 15. The debate was June 27, so two weeks passed and he said nothing,” she explained. “It wasn’t until July 10 – almost a month after he attended the fundraiser with him – that George Clooney finally wrote that op-ed after it became clear that Joe Biden wasn’t stepping down.”

While he agreed the actor’s “timeline doesn’t match up,” Shapiro said this is nothing new from the left. “I don’t know why Democrats insist on throwing actors out there to pretend that they are the role that they are playing,” he concluded. “George Clooney is not a doctor because he was on ER, and George Clooney is not a journalist because of Good Night, and Good Luck.” 

You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Shapiro by tuning in to episode 1,033 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.