Everyone surrounding George Clooney, SAG and the Golden Globes awards is denying a Times Of London article today that the actor nominated for Michael Clayton was a "major force" behind the union A-Listers refusing to cross picket lines to attend a televised Golden Globes. None can confirm to me that Clooney was a "major force" in the actors' decision, as the paper quotes one NBC executive as claiming. But an NBC spokesperson tells me: "I haven't heard this."
Clooney's longtime publicist Stan Rosenfield emailed me today: "Yes, the story is 100% false. The only thing he EVER said was he would not cross a picket line. The writer never called me or anyone I know of to check it out." Rosenfield points out that Clooney will be attending Monday night's Critics Choice Awards broadcast live on VH1. (There won't be a WGA picket line set up.)
Here's what happened behind the scenes, as far as I can glean. SAG decided not to pressure its A-List actors about attending or not attending the WGA-struck Golden Globes on NBC. So I'm told the decision not to cross picket lines came from the thesps themselves. In fact, SAG leadership took a meeting with all of Hollywood's publicists (with a similar collection in NYC via video conference) who told the union that the clients they represent will not cross the WGA picket line for the Golden Globes without exception.
A major publicist told me that Clooney "had nothing to do with our meeting, and I speak to his publicist regularly and he never mentioned George. It's just not possible. Also Alan Rosenberg mentioned several actors he spoke to, all old-timers, no one currently nominated, and George was not one of them. All old timers - no one currently nominated."
And a SAG leader told me, "I don't know what Clooney may have done."
Big shocker, a London news outlet reporting unfounded crap about a big Hollywood celebrity. Next we’ll learn that the paparazzi aren’t really journalists.
Comment by The Unsurprised — January 6, 2008 @ 8:40 pm