George Clooney is not backing down from his war of words — over words — with Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn, who called him a “money-coddled” actor “living in a bubble” during an interview Friday on Bloomberg.
“He said I live in a bubble. More of a bubble than Las Vegas? Honestly? He says I’m ‘money coddled,’ that I’m surrounded by people who coddle me. I would suggest that Mr. Wynn look to his left and right and find anyone in his sphere that says anything but ‘yes’ to him,” Clooney said in a statement issued hours after Wynn made his own. “Emphatically. I did not attend a private boys’ school, I worked in tobacco fields and in stock rooms, and construction sites. I’ve been broke more of my life than I have been successful, and I understand the meaning of being an employee and how difficult it is to make ends meet.”
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The beef between the Hollywood star and the billionaire businessman stems from an argument over Clooney’s “longtime friend” President Barack Obama that erupted during a dinner in Vegas last month.
Clooney maintains Wynn called Obama “an asshole,” which caused him to hurl the insult back and walk out of the room.
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Wynn told Stephanie Ruhle on Bloomberg’s “Market Makers” that he did not direct the profanity toward the President, and said Clooney did not direct it back at him, either.
Here’s Clooney’s full, and surprisingly long, response:
“Steve Wynn and I have met three times, two times for dinner. That is the extent of our knowledge of one another, so I will refrain from trying to categorize him based on the little time we’ve spent together, but I will not let his version of the truth go unchallenged.
He now says he didn’t call the president an ‘asshole.’ That is false. He bellowed ‘I voted for the asshole,’ and then called him the same thing several more times as the dinner came to an abrupt end.
Again there were eight people at the table, eight witnesses. I did in turn, call him the same body part, and walked out. Again he can make up whatever story he wants, but these are the facts. He said I drank 16 shots of tequila. I didn’t drink one shot of tequila, not one. We were drinking but it was early and we still had two events to attend.
He said I live in a bubble. More of a bubble than Las Vegas? Honestly? He says I’m ‘money coddled,’ that I’m surrounded by people who coddle me. I would suggest that Mr. Wynn look to his left and right and find anyone in his sphere that says anything but ‘yes’ to him. Emphatically. I did not attend a private boys’ school, I worked in tobacco fields and in stock rooms, and construction sites. I’ve been broke more of my life than I have been successful, and I understand the meaning of being an employee and how difficult it is to make ends meet.
“Steve is one of the richest men in the world and he should be congratulated for it, but he needs to take off his red sparkly dinner jacket and roll up his sleeves every once in a while and understand what most of the country is actually dealing with … or at least start with the fact that you can’t make up stories when eight people who are not on your payroll are sitting around you as witnesses.”