George Clooney v. Daily Mail round 2: Actor responds to apology
In an ongoing battle of words between George Clooney and British publication Daily Mail, the 53-year-old actor launches yet another attack with his response to the publication's recent apology for an article claiming that his fiancee's mother didn't want her daughter, Amal Alamuddin, marrying him.
In another editorial for USA Today, Clooney claims that the apology proves that the Daily Mail knowingly lied in their story.
"The Daily Mail has printed an apology for insinuating religious tensions where there are none," he writes. "In the apology, managing editor Charles Garside claims that the article was 'Not a fabrication,' but has 'Based the story on conversations with senior members of the Lebanese community.' The problem is that none of that is true. The original story never cites that source, but instead goes out of its way to insist on four different occasions that 'A family friend' spoke directly to the Mail. A 'Family friend' was the source. So either they were lying originally or they're lying now."
This all began when the Daily Mail said that Alamuddin's mother, Baria, had told her friends in Beirut that she wanted her daughter to marry into the family's Druze religion, and didn't approve of the upcoming nuptials.
Earlier this week, Clooney -- in a rare instance of addressing the report-- refuted the story in his first USA Today editorial, and shamed the Daily Mail saying that the article was not only a "fabrication" but that it could even be "dangerous."
The Daily Mail soon took down the story and said it was "not a fabrication but supplied in good faith by a reputable and trusted freelance journalist." They also apologized, saying, "We accept Mr. Clooney's assurance that the story is inaccurate and we apologize to him, Miss Amal Alamuddin and her mother, Baria, for any distress caused."
Clooney isn't buying it.
"They knew ahead of time that they were lying," the Oscar winner continues. "In an article dated April 28th, 2014, reporter Richard Spillett writes in the Mail that 'Ramzi, (Amal's father), married outside the Druze faith,' and a family friend said that 'Baria, (Amal's mom), is not Druze.' The Mail knew the story in question was false and printed it anyway. What separates this from all of the ridiculous things the Mail makes up is that now, by their own admission, it can be proved to be a lie. In fact a premeditated lie."
The Daily Mail has yet to comment on Clooney's most recent response.