George Clooney defends your right to be mad at him about Joe Biden

Certain Democrats were pissed about the pivot and some people still are, Clooney told Jake Tapper on CNN this week, per Variety. Still, he shared that he stands behind his decision. “It was a civic duty because I found that people on my side of the street—you know, I’m a Democrat in Kentucky so I get it—when I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth I thought that was time,” he said. In his original op-ed Clooney asserted not only that “we are not going to win in November with this president,” but also that that was the “opinion of every senator and Congress member and governor who I’ve spoken with in private. Every single one, irrespective of what he or she is saying publicly.” 

“Some people [are mad], sure,” Clooney continued on CNN. “That’s okay, you know, listen the idea of freedom of speech is you can’t demand freedom of speech and then say, ‘But don’t say bad things about me.'”

“That’s the deal, you have to take your stand if you believe in it,” he continued. “Take a stand, stand for it and then deal with the consequences. That’s the rules, so when people criticize me—they criticized me for my stance against the war 20 years ago, people picketed my movies and they put me on a deck of cards—I have to take that, that’s fair. I’m OK with that, I’m OK with criticism for where I stand. I defend their right to criticize me as much as I defend my right to criticize them.” At least someone out there with a soapbox has seen his Schoolhouse Rock!.