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George Clooney accuses Daily Mail of 'inciting violence' after story about fiancee Amal Alamuddin's mother opposing his marriage
The actor wrote a column for USA Today claiming that the newspaper had put the safety of others at risk
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Your support makes all the difference.George Clooney has attacked the Daily Mail, claiming that the newspaper incited racial violence by publishing a story about his fiancée Amal Alamuddin’s mother opposing their forthcoming marriage.
The actor wrote a column for USA Today, in which he explained that while he accepts some of the media intrusion that comes with his fame, he could not accept articles that put others at risk.
“The Daily Mail has printed a completely fabricated story about my fiancée's mother opposing our marriage for religious reasons,” he wrote.
“It says Amal [Alamuddin]'s mother has been telling 'half of Beirut' that she's against the wedding. It says they joke about traditions in the Druze religion that end up with the death of the bride. Let me repeat that: the death of the bride.”
He went on to state that “none of the story is factually true”, including the implication that Amal’s mother, Baria Alamuddin (the foreign editor of Pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat) was Druze.
“Amal's mother is not Druze,” he continued. “She has not been to Beirut since Amal and I have been dating, and she is in no way against the marriage — but none of that is the issue. I'm, of course, used to the Daily Mail making up stories — they do it several times a week — and I don't care. If they fabricate stories of Amal being pregnant, or that the marriage will take place on the set of Downton Abbey, or that I'm running for office, or any number of idiotic stories that they sit at their computers and invent, I don't care. But this lie involves larger issues.
“The irresponsibility, in this day and age, to exploit religious differences where none exist, is at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous. We have family members all over the world, and the idea that someone would inflame any part of that world for the sole reason of selling papers should be criminal.
“I'm the son of a newsman; I accept the idea that freedom of speech can be an inconvenience to my private life from time to time, but this story, like so many others, is picked up by hundreds of other outlets citing the Daily Mail as their source, including Boston.com, New York Daily News, Gulf News, Emirates 24/7 and so on.
“The Daily Mail, more than any other organisation that calls itself news, has proved time and time again that facts make no difference in the articles they make up. And when they put my family and my friends in harm's way, they cross far beyond just a laughable tabloid and into the arena of inciting violence.
He signed off his column with: “They must be so very proud.”
The Daily Mail is yet to issue a response to George Clooney.
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