George Clooney Clashes With Arianna Huffington

George Clooney, who recently won this year's Oscar for Best Supporting actor for his role in the film Syriana, clashed with political analyst and political socialite Arianna Huffington on Wednesday when Clooney's name and political views appeared in a posting on Huffigton's website The Huffington Post.

The blog entry was made on Monday under the name George Clooney, which faulted the Democratic Party for their toned down views on the government's decisions and sharply criticized George Bush and the Republican Party for a passive approach in the early days of the war in Iraq. George Clooney, who also starred in such films as Good Night, and Good Luck, Ocean's Eleven, Batman & Robin, and The Perfect Storm, lashed out at Arianna Huffington over how his political views were presented. It appears that Clooney did make the comments, just not on Huffington's blog. According to a story by Elizabeth Snead for the LA Times, Clooney took issue with the fact that his words were used in an indirect and misleading manner on The Huffington Post, "Clooney didn't back pedal from his political views but said they had been compiled from his interviews with CNN's Larry King and Britain's Guardian newspaper."

In the blog entry, according to the Post Chronicle, Clooney revealed, "The fear of (being) criticized can be paralysing. Just look at the way so many Democrats caved in the run up to the (Iraq) war ....In 2003, a lot of us were saying, 'Where is the link between Saddam (Hussein) and (Osama) Bin Laden? What does Iraq have to do with 9/11?' ... We have to agree that it's not unpatriotic to hold our leaders accountable and to speak out."

In statements released on Wednesday, Huffington confirmed that the comments were reprinted but also revealed that she had permission from Clooney's publicist. According to the Lowdown column by Lloyd Grove in the New York Daily News, in his only interview on the matter, George Clooney revealed just how careful he is when it comes to his own words, "Nobody has ever written an op-ed piece for me. If I say I've written something, I've written it. When I go to the Oscars, I write everything I say...I stand by what I do, but I'm very cautious not to take giant steps onto soapboxes because I think they're polarizing."

However, the disagreement continued when Arianna Huffington fired back, claiming the entire matter was a misunderstanding between George Clooney and his publicist after approval to publish his words was given to her in writing. According to the Miami Herald's report off the Associated Press wire, Clooney's personal publicist, Stan Rosenfield, saw it differently, "It's not a misunderstanding, it's misrepresentation... She knows what she was doing. She was saying to people that she had George Clooney's blog and was printing it. George Clooney does not make statements. He answers questions."

As both the Clooney camp and Huffington party continue to sort out the details of their disagreement, it appears the recent squabble hasn't dampened the actor's generosity. According to the latest article on Newsday and the Associated Press, George Clooney is still on a high after the Academy Awards and recently donated his lavish Oscar gift bag to be auctioned off for the United Way, "The loot will be sold in an online auction to benefit the United Way Hurricane Response and Relief Recovery Fund, said spokeswoman Sheila Consaul. Clooney is a member of the charity's board of trustees."

Arianna Huffington, author of such books as After Reason, The Fourth Instinct, Greetings from the Lincoln Bedroom, and How to Overthrow the Government, is a nationally syndicated columnist and radio host, who has appeared on a wide variety of respected political television shows as Inside Politics, Charlie Rose, Real Time with Bill Maher, and The O'Reilly Factor with controversial host Bill O'Reilly.

[Additional Sources: LA Times, Post Chronicle, New York daily News, Miami Herald, Associated Press, Newsday]