Does George Clooney have an Amal Problem?
My jaw dropped Sunday night as funny ladies Amy Poehler and Tina Fey took the stage at the Golden Globes and Fey lit into Amal Alamuddin Clooney, the stylish and accomplished new bride of actor, producer, director, screenwriter and Tinseltown heartthrob George Clooney — a k a “Amal’s husband.” (Or, in some circles, “the next president of the United States.”)
“Amal is a human rights lawyer who worked on the Enron case, was an adviser to Kofi Annan regarding Syria, and was selected for a three-person commission investigating rules of war violations in the Gaza Strip,” Fey said. “So tonight, her husband is getting a lifetime achievement award.”
Huh?
The line seems to have gone over the heads of those in the media obsessed over “whom” she was wearing (Dior). Also drawing the kind of interest formerly reserved for the cellphone numbers of Leonardo DiCaprio’s posse of scantily clad babes were the baggy, white, elbow-length gloves she rocked like a poor woman’s Jackie Kennedy. The gloves drew the scorn of new “Fashion Police” host Kathy Griffin, who, replacing the late Joan Rivers, deemed Mrs. Clooney, 36, the worst-dressed Golden Globes attendee.
“I thought it was weird she had those gloves that remind me of, like, a porn scene where the guy goes home and there’s the naughty dishwasher and she only has the gloves,” Griffin quipped about the accessories favored by the Lebanese-British barrister who speaks English, Arabic and French and bears a degree from Oxford University. “Like, she used those bovine-insemination gloves to rake through her hair instead of a brush.” Ouch.
But Fey’s assertion that the woman who married George Clooney, 53, in September had been selected to serve on a commission investigating war crimes in Gaza, allegedly committed by Israeli forces, caused me to gasp. Didn’t she refuse the assignment?
Fey’s publicist told me that the comedian was just making a joke at George Clooney’s expense, but would not say why Fey chose to go there. A rep for Poehler did not respond to my email, and George Clooney’s publicist said he passed my questions on to the missus, who did not get back to me.
Here is the story: The UN Human Rights Council announced in August that the then-Ms. Alamuddin, engaged to Clooney at the time, would serve on a panel, one that Israeli leaders have likened to a “witch hunt” whose members are bent on penalizing Israel for acting in self-defense against Palestinian rocket attacks. Then Alamuddin declared she would skip serving on the panel because she was too busy with eight legal cases. But she released a statement that revealed her antipathy toward the Jewish state:
“I am horrified by the situation in the occupied Gaza Strip, particularly the civilian casualties that have been caused, and strongly believe that there should be an independent investigation and accountability for crimes that have been committed,” it read.
I believe that her refusal to join the anti-Israel commission was an effort not to antagonize her then-fiancé’s Hollywood colleagues, many of whom are pro-Israel and/or Jewish. But as Clooney cements his political résumé, bringing his activism against African genocide to his good friend President Obama while he campaigns against global warming, political types are urging Amal’s husband to run for office.
George Clooney, a lifelong liberal, has batted away overtures from members of California’s Democratic Party, who’ve asked him to seek office. “I f- -ked too many chicks and did too many drugs, and that’s the truth,” he told Newsweek magazine in 2011.
But after he got hitched, British bookmaker William Hill lowered the odds that George Clooney would someday serve as president from 200 to 1 to 100 to 1. “George Clooney is not just one of the most recognizable faces in the USA, but in the world, and if he did decide to run for president, he ticks a lot of boxes,” said a spokesman for Hill, who gave 20-to-1 odds that Clooney would seek the presidency in 2016, and 500-to-1 odds that he’d win the race. The online wagering service Bovada has started taking bets on the chances of Clooney winning the White House next time around, setting the odds at 500 to 1.
Will he do it?
It’s unclear if George Clooney possesses the will, or the power, to fix his female trouble.
Red, white and boo to Hollywood
Schizo Hollywood is split over patriotism. In the Oscar nominations announced Thursday, the film “Unbroken,’’ about American Olympian and World War II hero Louis Zamperini, was all but snubbed, earning noms only in the unsexy categories of Cinematography, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.
The film’s director, Angelina Jolie, a source told The Post, was already “hurt’’ and “upset’’ that the flick was overlooked for Golden Globe honors.
But “American Sniper,’’ a film about a Navy SEAL assassin that was also shut out at the Globes, was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and star Bradley Cooper is in contention for Best Actor. The movie also scored noms in lesser categories, including Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, pitting it against “Unbroken.’’
But its director, Clint Eastwood, was ignored for a Best Director nomination. So was Ben Affleck, who helmed 2012’s “Argo,’’ as well as Kathryn Bigelow, denied a nom for directing “Zero Dark Thirty’’ — both pro-American films — though “Argo’’ won a Best Picture statue.
Tinseltown has a problem with movies that honor God and country. I have a problem paying to see the dreck offered by the studios.
Curry picks herself back up
She was the victim of a televised snuffing. More than two years ago, Ann Curry was dumped from the “Today’’ show, apparently at the behest of co-host Matt Lauer (though some NBC News insiders deny this).
Curry, 58, who stopped speaking to Lauer, 57, got tired of doing almost nothing at a network that paid her a reported $12 million a year and gave her the fancy title of national and international correspondent / “Today’’ show anchor-at-large. The brass agreed.
Now she’s starting her own production company that will sell shows to, among other outlets, NBC, Emily Smith of The Post’s Page Six first reported.
I wish Curry well. Lauer, not so much.
Our ‘splitting’ headache
If you’ve been hanging on to your marriage, now might be the time to let it go.
January brings a one-third increase in divorce filings over other months of the year because people tend to stay wed to their spouses through the holidays, then give them up, according to RPG-Life Transition Specialists.
Folks at the wealth management firm warn Americans to prepare for the potentially crushing economic toll that splitting up can cause.
But what about love and commitment?
In this easy-divorce culture, those things aren’t important.