George Clooney has been offering blunt advice to George Floyd’s team in Chauvin trial emails
Passionate about social justice causes, Clooney is in touch with Floyd family lawyer Benjamin Crump
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
George Clooney has offered some particularly blunt advice for the prosecution team in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer accused of murdering George Floyd.
The Hollywood actor reached out to Floyd family lawyer Benjamin Crump by email this week, the attorney said in an appearance on The View.
Clooney has been in contact with Mr Crump before as the actor is heavily engaged in social justice causes and has been paying close attention to the trial of Derek Chauvin.
The advice offered by Clooney related to the suggestion by the defence team that Mr Floyd died of a drug overdose and not from Mr Chauvin kneeling on his neck for almost ten minutes.
Mr Crump said that the actor proposed a blunt response to this version of events.
“He says ‘Attorney Crump, you should tell them if Derek Chauvin feels so confident in that, he should volunteer during his case to get down on the floor in that courtroom, and let somebody come and put their knee on his neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds and be able to see if he can survive,’” Mr Crump said.
A representative for the actor and director confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that he had been in email contact with Mr Crump.
Addressing panelist and host Joy Behar, Mr Crump added: “The experts will opine during this case that the average human being can go without oxygen from 30 seconds to 90 seconds — where George Floyd went without oxygen for over 429 seconds, and that’s why it was intentional what this officer did.”
He continued: “And I believe in my heart, Joy Behar, that he will be held criminally liable and it will hopefully set a new precedent in America.”
Mr Crump said that Clooney wants his children, three-year-old twins Alexander and Ella, to grow up in a better world, hence his interest in social justice matters.
The actor is married to international law and human rights barrister Amal Alamuddin.
Following the killing of George Floyd in May 2020, Clooney wrote an essay for The Daily Beast about the nationwide protest movement sparked after a video of his death at the hands of police went viral.
“How many times have we seen people of color killed by police?” he asked.
“Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Laquan McDonald. There is little doubt that George Floyd was murdered. We watched as he took his last breath at the hands of four police officers. Now we see another defiant reaction to the systemic cruel treatment of a portion of our citizens like we saw in 1968, 1992, and 2014.”
The trial of Derek Chauvin, charged with second and third-degree murder as well as second-degree manslaughter, is now on its 10th day. The former Minneapolis police officer has pleaded not guilty.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments