George Clooney mocks Ted Cruz for supporting Trump despite president ‘calling his wife ugly’

In 2016, US senator Cruz called Trump ‘a snivelling coward’ for insulting his wife’s appearance

George Clooney has mocked US senator Ted Cruz for supporting Donald Trump, despite Trump once “saying his wife was ugly”.

Cruz has been a vocal supporter of the outgoing president, but the pair were regularly at odds in the run-up to the 2016 election, with both competing for the Republican nomination.

During one particularly low moment, Cruz used a number of Melania Trump’s old modelling photographs to criticise his rival in campaign ads. In response, Trump tweeted a side-by-side picture of his wife and Cruz’s wife Heidi, with the latter deliberately unflattering in comparison. “No need to ‘spill the beans’, Trump wrote. “The images are worth a thousand words.”

“Donald, you’re a snivelling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone,” Cruz replied.

Clooney alluded to the incident while speaking to The New York Times, using it as an example of Cruz being a “yutz”. He also referenced Trump’s baseless suggestion that Cruz’s father was involved with John F Kennedy’s assassination.

“I mean, Ted Cruz, think about what a yutz this guy is!” Clooney said. “I don’t care what your political view is: If a guy said that my wife was ugly and my father killed Kennedy, there is no way in the world you could have me come out and say, ‘I’ll defend you.’”

Clooney continued: “Every single one of these guys have aspirations for bigger things – Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, all of them. They think people will travel with them because, ‘I’ve stuck with you, Don,’ but the truth is, they won’t. They stay with Donald because Donald, for all of his immense problems as a human being, is a charismatic carnival barker.”

George Clooney and Ted Cruz (Frederick M Brown/Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

Clooney recently told The Independent that he suffered a near-death experience in 2018, and that his wife Amal no longer lets him ride motorcycles as a result.

The actor has also starred in and directed a new Netflix film, The Midnight Sky, about a man fighting for survival after an unexplained disaster wipes out most of the planet.