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The long-running war of words between the George Clooney<\/a> and the White House has ignited again after the Oscar-winning actor criticised Donald Trump\u2019s threat to Iran that \u201ca whole civilization will die tonight\u201d.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, in a speech to 3,000 high school students in Cuneo, Italy, Clooney said the US president had committed a war crime with his threat.<\/p>\n \u201cSome say Donald Trump<\/a> is fine,\u201d the 64-year-old told the students at an event organised by the Clooney Foundation for Justice. \u201cBut if anyone says he wants to end a civilization, that\u2019s a war crime. You can still support the conservative point of view but there must be a line of decency, and we must not cross it.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, the White House communications director, Steven Cheung, told the Independent<\/a>: \u201cThe only person committing war crimes is George Clooney for his awful movies and terrible acting ability.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to Deadline<\/a> on Wednesday, Clooney said: \u201cFamilies are losing their loved ones. Children have been incinerated. The world\u2019s economy is on a knife\u2019s edge. This is a time for vigorous debate at the highest levels. Not for infantile name calling. I\u2019ll start. A war crime is alleged \u2018when there is intent to physically destroy a nation,\u2019 as defined by the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute. What is the administration\u2019s defense? [besides calling me a failed actor which I happily agree with, having starred in Batman and Robin<\/a>?].\u201d<\/p>\n Clooney, a longtime Democratic supporter and donor, has been outspoken about his politics for decades, often framing his frankness as a moral responsibility born from being raised by his journalist father and his marriage to the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. In 2025 he made headlines<\/a> when he wrote an op ed in the New York Times urging the then-president, Joe Bide, to drop out of the presidential race.<\/p>\n Despite the gulf between their politics, Clooney has spoken about once being on good terms with Trump before his presidency, telling Variety last year<\/a>: \u201cI knew him very well. He used to call me a lot, and he tried to help me get into a hospital once to see a back surgeon. I\u2019d see him out at clubs and at restaurants. He\u2019s a big goofball. Well, he was. That all changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump, not known for having thick skin, often reacts to criticism that comes his way from Hollywood, a world he tried to enter via cameos and reality television. He has been particularly responsive to criticism from Clooney over the years, variously calling him a \u201csecond-rate movie star\u201d<\/a>, a \u201cthird-rate actor\u201d<\/a>, a \u201cfake movie actor\u201d<\/a> who \u201cnever came close to making a great movie\u201d, and a \u201cbackstabber\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n In January, Trump criticised France\u2019s decision to grant the actor and his family French citizenship<\/a>, calling the Clooneys \u201ctwo of the worst political prognosticators of all time\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cClooney got more publicity for politics than he did for his very few, and totally mediocre, movies,\u201d the president added<\/a>. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t a movie star at all, he was just an average guy who complained, constantly, about common sense in politics.\u201d<\/p>\n In response, and referring to the US midterm elections on 3 November, Clooney told the Hollywood Reporter<\/a>: \u201cI totally agree with the current president. We have to make America great again. We\u2019ll start in November.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n