After being arrested during a planned protest on the Sudanese Embassy in Washington last Friday, George Clooney appeared on several talk shows on Sunday to discuss the violence in the border area between Sudan and South Sudan.
The Oscar-winning actor gave interviews at CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS, NBC’s Meet the Press and Fox News Sunday, explaining how he felt it was his responsibility to speak out about the violence.
“I grew up in a family that believed that…your job was to be involved with your fellow man”, he said on Fox News Sunday, underlining how it was his upbringing that sparked his interest in humanitarian issues. “You have a responsibility to participate in the human condition, one way or another.”
With a strong family bond over such crisis issues, it came as no surprise that he attended the protest in Washington last Friday with his father.
Before the protest, THE DESCENDANTS star met with President Obama and testified on Capitol Hill about the violence in Sudan, stressing how a joint diplomatic action by the U.S. and China would be the best way to stop the country’s president, Omar Al-Bashir, who is also an alleged war criminal. He also said that China receives six percent of its oil from Sudan, pointing out that this is not only a political issue, but also an economic one.
Despite his strong will for action, Clooney stated that he has no interest in politics, and on NBC’s Meet the Press said that he could “have a lot more influence” as an activist rather than a politician. As an activist he says he can have an opinion and stand by it no matter who agrees or not.
Talking about being an activist he said, “I think it’s a lot easier than running for office, I don’t’ have any interest in that.”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
