George Clooney straightens out gay rumours - and tells us how he was a bad student

Did I miss this, or is it a rehash?

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George Clooney straightens out gay rumours

2013-12-09

Los Angeles - George Clooney finds gay rumours about himself amusing.

The Monuments Men actor - who split from Stacy Keibler in July - has learnt to laugh off rumours propagated by the internet about his sexuality because he doesn't want to offend the gay community by making a public denial.

Recalling the most exaggerated rumour he's ever read, he told the new UK issue of Esquire magazine: "A headline read 'George Clooney's gay-gay-gay.' And I said, 'I'm gay-gay. The third one's pushing it.' Well now, according to the internet I'm gay. You're not going to deny it because that's flat out insulting to the gay community."

The 52-year-old star also joked about one memorable TV appearance when he was asked whether he had ever had plastic surgery and he replied he had once ironed his testicles. George moaned: "So now, long after I'm dead it'll be, 'George Clooney had his balls ironed.'"

The Hollywood heartthrob also touched upon his days as a journalism student when he was more interested in booze and living it up in nightclubs than his work.

He laughed: "Suddenly I'm in downtown Cincinnati at the end of the disco era - this is 1979, 1980 - and it was drive-through liquor stores and bars that stay open till 4am and you could drink at 18 so it was, 'Woohoo party!'

"I would go to class, but really enjoyed going out in the night a lot more. I was not a good student."

This was in the UK Esquire interview. Guess you missed it   

What can you learn in a bar ???   

A lot... Study of human behaviour when relaxed/inebriated, exchange anecdotes, political discussions, sport, science debates.....anything.
He was honing his interpersonal skills.  
Learning...from life.

Intelligence isn't just exclusive to formal education.
George has proven to be quite erudite.

Out of plenthora of choices how to reply
I think he picked the answer that shows more class, considération and determination than
getting to the bottom of this (gay) question, which could possible upset everyone, even the snowman outside...

Mmm, he's so erudite that President Kir is screwing him over. Right ? LOL   

@Atalante ... love your purple face..... me thinks it should be green....right baby baby???

If you can't stand the heat, keep out of the ..., right baby baby ???  

Atalante makes a point but it's directed at the wrong person.  

President Kiir is working toward dictatorship.  That's not George's fault nor does it dismiss the fact that the people of Sudan will be the ones to suffer should that happen.

All George can do is continue to shine a light on what is happening.

What's that saying?  No good deed goes unpunished.


One other thing I will say, the fact that Atalante you can use something so serious as a way to take a laughing dig at George seems quite petty. Whatever your issues with George, using this example as a way to try to get one over on him would make one believe that you lack compassion.

Back to the topic of "gay-gay-gay", can he really believe that the only reason there are persistent rumors that he's gay is because of that one time he cracked a joke? He doesn't think any of it has to do with dating a string of women who make it look like he's trying a little too hard to play straight? I mean, he only dates women who clearly wouldn't give him the time of day if he were a 52-year-old plumber in Cincinnati, so it does kind of look like there's something else involved there. For the record, I don't think he's gay, but I hope at least privately he can acknowledge the role his own behavior plays in the persistence of those rumors.

And I think the "I can't deny being gay because it's insulting to gay people" thing George and other famous people use is a cop out. There's a way of answering that question respectfully that is not insulting to anyone, just a statement of fact.

Interviewer: "Are you gay?"
George (et.al.): "No."

Simple as that. I think the truth is it's better for business to let people think what they want. If straight women are going to see George because they think they have a shot at him, and gay men are going to see George because they think they have a shot at him, then hey, win-win for everybody.

So what you are saying is that all this speculation on the part of the hate mongers. This is America and one should have the right to answer a question how they see fit. If after all this time if he said "NO" it would please everyone. Trust me those that want to spread hate will do so no matter what he says.

There are a lot of jealous people in this world, that forget he got to where he is by hard work and diligence. God Bless him.

@Missa

I love the "have a shot"

Makes George sound like a fair ground attraction "Roll up, roll up, and have a shot at George...Gay, straight, slightly bent out of shape, all comers welcome. Pay your money and take your chance"......

No, I think acting like being called gay is hateful is more insulting than simply stating you aren't gay could ever be. I don't think it's any more offensive than someone saying, "Hey, are you really a natural blonde?". Nosy and intrusive, sure, but so are the questions about women he's dated, and he rarely flat out refuses to answer those. The thing is, he plays the "I'll never answer that because it would insult gay people to deny it" card, which is in and of itself a denial, but one that paints him as a saint. If he TRULY didn't want to answer the question, his response would be "Sorry, I don't discuss my private life." And he wouldn't care that some people would take that response as a "yes".

True Missa. But hard for him to say he doesn´t discuss his private life when he does. What is really private is actually secret   

Maybe we're all just missing the point here.

Several glossy articles as part of Monuments Men build up booked months previously,,,,and then nothing, and no girlfriend and absence of sightings........so back to the old old headlines.

Even non stories of Our Hero sell.......

The lead up of repeat pattern dating with seemingly lack of authenticity with  certain disreputable types of women, these last few years may have fueled more speculation than anything.

Just seems SO fake:
Zero chemistry between him & the women.
His body language.
Incompatibility.
Women young enough to be his children and much less attractive than himself
Rinse, repeat ....boring the public's conscience & rendering him a spectacle of riddle OR speculation about his sexuality and that he's "covering up."

I don't believe  he's gay at all. But I can see what contributed to the rumors & it's not the ambiguity in his answer.

Just the bemusement the public has with what many dismiss as "beards."

If he loved them & showed a genuine affection towards them, then maybe people would think, "hey, love is blind...Clooney fell for a cocktail waitress, a soft-core porn nun performer, a wrestler bigger than him in stature & build....

Instead, we see a semi-miserable Clooney, mismatched with "questionable trashy types."
A repeat pattern for years.

No wonder rumors are rife more than ever.

No one speculates about many others who lead genuine private lives and keep them limited, without a blitz of fake photo-ops.

Isn't this a pattern he's had all his life? Except when he was younger, according to his sister, the girls lasted about six months......

So progress!!

No, not really. He had a plethora of fun dating & various girlfriends when he was a younger rising TV star.

A four year failed marriage with a respectable TV actress.
A genuine relationship with Celine Balitran...as a rising film star.

Then a pattern emerging of full on publicity dating as he promoted himself as a big screen movie star, starting with casually dating Lisa Snowdon.
It's as if his private life was a show spectacle, as advised by studio heads or his management.
Lacking authenticity.
Especially the last three...or even two "girlfriends."

Just seems it was all for show. Mega fails.  Fail-Fail situations. Damaging his public image as a sleaze or ambiguity about his sexuality in that he's "covering up with fake relationships," is what many perceive.

Easy to see how the gay rumors are fueled.

And he's not a virile young man anymore.

The joke is on him if at 53 years old, he's still sowing his wild oats with trashy embarrassing types.
Or covering up....

Well, to me, I see a big screen star who has built up the image we see of him today. What he does in private, will be dif from the public and mostly PR photographed sex life. The girlfriends, are part of that built up image as a swinging bachelor with swingy GFs. And yes, I think his agency advised him to do it that way, for best results of keeping his name and product in the lime light to benefit the product and GFs got benefits from that too.

But that lets him keep whatever his private life is, private. The PR GFs have never been meant to be private. Otherwise they wouldn't benefit from it. Nor would his product. He is willing to allow the public to say whatever about his sexuality, as part of the means to keep his image spurred for his product's benefit.

Thats always been the way to looked to me, as just merely an observation. He will sacrifice himself somewhat to sell his product. GFs want the publicity for them.

not only himself I fear

what a way to live...
Selling baloney to the public.
Then he wants to be taken as a serious humanitarian and film director, producer,  actor....

More importantly, keep his private life secret and hidden.
Then hire the sleazy GFs for "mutually beneficial" public deception just to generate publicity.
More like self-sabotage in his perceived image.

Way to go, George!

it's me wrote:not only himself I fear

well, he chooses who he sacrifices then.

I can just imagine how many people or particularly potential love interests he's told lies that he has to "sacrifice" them for the sake of brand Clooney.

How many people he's hurt.
Ah, the sacrificial lambs brought to the slaughter when the novelty wears off....

Or he bluffs that the studio head honchos or his management decide his fate.
Smooth exit for him...

Hey, Ocean, hope you don't mind, but I'm stealing "soft-core porn nun performer" for my business cards.   

@missa - lol
By all means...
Raise a few eyebrows.

I also find your posts quite precise.
George could choose to deny and say "no, I'm not but I support the gay community."
But maybe likes the ambiguity & possibly the intrigue of speculation.

Somewhere once I read that when Lindsay Lohan was asked what was Hollywood's biggest secret, she questioned in reply "George Clooney is gay?"
It seems that even within the industry there's confusion.
George may like to play these games.
Waldo Sanchez' continual presence on film sets & leisure since as far back as ER, may bemuse certain observers.
To me, it means that this longterm relationship with his hair stylist/ basketball buddy is a trusting, genuine, platonic friendship.
But media gossips may find it intriguing....

I thought we just had this same discussion in The Next Clooney GF??

I think GF appointees get the rundown of how it is mostly done and given a choice, if they want that or not. Think that is prolly part of their screening.

I don't think any of them go into it thinking they will glide over it all easily. May be why they sometimes seemed stiff and reserved a bit, while trying to ply a plastic smile. Perhaps having heard or read the latest fan feed back on it...(would make me feel a bit queasy, at some of the things said) Just my musings of course...

I can see that we are running true to form.
We haven't had no NEW sightings or communication from George for awhile so it is time to TRASH him. It's leaking into most threads again.

Again, I don't think the suggestion of being gay (which, FYI, just about everyone agrees is inaccurate) is TRASHING someone. But you're right, let's get back to the unbridled hero worship; that is so much more interesting.

Question: Who is George Clooney more like: Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi?

My first instinct is Gandhi; George could certainly stand to eat a little more. Then again, could we say that having to deal with the paparazzi is nearly equivalent to being wrongfully imprisoned for decades? I think so, especially since it keeps poor George from being able to ride his motorcycle sometimes. How he bears up under the pressure, I'll never understand. Also, George and Mandela both began their humanitarian/reconciliation efforts after being divorced, so there's that commonality.

The more I think about it, I wonder: is there a deadline for submitting names to the Vatican for canonization? Pope Francis does seem pretty chill; I think he'd overlook George's divorce in the march towards sainthood.

Missa wrote:Back to the topic of "gay-gay-gay", can he really believe that the only reason there are persistent rumors that he's gay is because of that one time he cracked a joke? He doesn't think any of it has to do with dating a string of women who make it look like he's trying a little too hard to play straight?  I mean, he only dates women who clearly wouldn't give him the time of day if he were a 52-year-old plumber in Cincinnati, so it does kind of look like there's something else involved there.  For the record, I don't think he's gay, but I hope at least privately he can acknowledge the role his own behavior plays in the persistence of those rumors.
 

Ok gotta disagree here.

I've seen George in person on several ocassions.  I have been within a foot of him each time.  

I have seen him look up and straight at me, with those big brown eyes and lashes that go on for miles; smile that shy little smile of his (whether it's just an actor fake smile or not, it's very effective) and felt me knees go weak.

So if a 52 year old plumber in Cincinnati looked like George I think I'd let him have a go at clearing out my plumbing!  Just sayin...

I agree with Lorna here

LornaDoone wrote:

Missa wrote:Back to the topic of "gay-gay-gay", can he really believe that the only reason there are persistent rumors that he's gay is because of that one time he cracked a joke? He doesn't think any of it has to do with dating a string of women who make it look like he's trying a little too hard to play straight?  I mean, he only dates women who clearly wouldn't give him the time of day if he were a 52-year-old plumber in Cincinnati, so it does kind of look like there's something else involved there.  For the record, I don't think he's gay, but I hope at least privately he can acknowledge the role his own behavior plays in the persistence of those rumors.
 

Ok gotta disagree here.

I've seen George in person on several ocassions.  I have been within a foot of him each time.  

I have seen him look up and straight at me, with those big brown eyes and lashes that go on for miles; smile that shy little smile of his (whether it's just an actor fake smile or not, it's very effective) and felt me knees go weak.

So if a 52 year old plumber in Cincinnati looked like George I think I'd let him have a go at clearing out my plumbing!  Just sayin...

So right Lorna  

I agree too, Lorna. But we are not the type of women he usually dates, which is my point. I find it highly unlikely that Stacy Keibler, Elisabetta Canalis, or Sarah Larson would look twice at George if he could not give them things that a plumber in Cincinnati would never be able to.

Thanks Lorna, now I have a picture of George in my head in a plumber uniform.   

Missa wrote:I agree too, Lorna.  But we are not the type of women he usually dates, which is my point.  I find it highly unlikely that Stacy Keibler, Elisabetta Canalis, or Sarah Larson would look twice at George if he could not give them things that a plumber in Cincinnati would never be able to.

I do understand your point.  But hey, plumbers make a lot of money and one that looked like George?  Well, let's just say -- he might be rolling around in the muck and mud during the day and come home kinda stinky, but one good soaking bubble bath (I'd scrub his back and then some) and that would take care of that issue!  Ha!!!

As to the gals, yes, I agree.  But I think Sarah was an anomaly.   Keibler and Canalis were more focused on a career in entertainment, whereas Sarah was more a waitress dreaming of a career but not really doing much to move into it.  One or two modeling jobs before she met George?

And yes, there are women who seek out older men just for what they can give them.  Whether it's a fancy, high roller type of lifestyle, or access to acting parts that they would never have been considered for had they not had George's name recognition and high profile to give them that access.

But where does George find a gal who really doesn't know what he does, who he is and that he's stinkin rich?  I feel sorry for George in some respects.  His high profile makes it unlikely that a woman is interested in him for him and not because of what comes with his success or who wouldn't know who he is -- so he'll never be sure that a woman wants him for who he is inside.  

AS to the gay issue cause baby we've gotten way off track here...

i suppose he could have just said no but he really does have good friends who are gay and maybe what he's saying is just that.  That HE feels denying it would be disrespectful to his gay friends and gay men or women in general.

It seems that it doesn't matter if you try to make a diplomatic comment.  There will always be someone second guessing what he said, disagreeing and telling him what he should have said or not believe his comment at all.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't is my opinion.

I agree with everything you said, Lorna, especially that it really doesn't matter what he says about being gay. Sometimes I think he could be married with ten kids and there would still be people who would swear he was gay. I think a lot of it stems from envy and I bet some of it is just wishful thinking from some people in the gay community.

amen

LizzyNY wrote:I agree with everything you said, Lorna, especially that it really doesn't matter what he says about being gay. Sometimes I think he could be married with ten kids and there would still be people who would swear he was gay. I think a lot of it stems from envy and I bet some of it is just wishful thinking from some people in the gay community.

I agree Lizzy.  I know no one is a saint and George would probably be the first to admit that about himself.  But some of the negative comments I've seen in other forums and sites are down right mean and I wonder what motivates people to make those kind of comments?  

So envy certainly must be the motive behind some.  But envy is a strange emotion because in reality someone who is envious of someone else's success really is just projecting their dissatisfaction with their own lives onto the successful person.  Seems to me their time might be better spent going out and fulfilling their own dreams instead of ranting about someone else who did just that!

Lorna - I agree, fulfilling your dreams (or trying to) can give us a much brighter view of the world. Unfortunately, it can be a hard road to follow. It's a lot easier to sit back and bitch about those who stuck to it and worked hard for their success than it is to actually put in the effort to make it yourself. Too many of us assume that successful people came to their success easily and think we should be handed our dreams on a silver platter, with no effort on our part. Sad.

George makes lite of his success, saying that luck had a lot to do with it. BS My opinion if he didn't work as hard as he did to take challenges that were put in his way he would not have made it.

His persona is lighthearted but he is much deeper than that. How many failed TV pilots did he do and not so good movies; most do to no fault of his own, but he just keep going on and taking more projects on. He dedicated himself to his career. While doing that he also dedicated himself to humanity, he didn't wait until he was on top. He's put up his home to finance projects not knowing if he was going to lose it or not.

He also had to overcome the fact that he was Rosemary's nephew, there was talk that "they" thought he might be looking for a break because of her. It wasn't always a plus being a Clooney at that time. No matter what the obstacle was he worked around, through, or over it with his own special brand of integrity.

I get so angry when I read some of the sick comments a small class of people write. I always say jealousy is a terrible thing and depletes the envious person of any joy. Get up and work half as hard as George has, spread some joy in the world by helping someone who needs it.

Off my soap box. xxx

Some of you here paint him like a saint who ought to be canonized.
He seems fundamentally a good person, but not infallible.
He's probably hurt a few people too.  

Anyway, being Rosemary's nephew opened doors for sure. Nevertheless, it's determination & perseverance that helped him succeed. Also, talent and the whole package.
He's worked very hard too. But he's not a robot. A human with weaknesses and needs like everyone else. Not just restricted to work & humanitarian involvement.

Those who consider him gay may be trying to slander him &/or are bemused about his past lack of chemistry, unbalanced dating choices.  Who knows?

I don't think anyone here considers George a saint, just an admirable person who's done a lot with his life - much more than many others to whom much more was given. And, yes, he has hurt people along the way. He has said so himself - and that it bothers him. That's why he tries to treat everyone fairly . He has many friends in the industry, most of whom seem very protective of him. Seems he must be doing something right (despite his taste in dating choices).

Ocean wrote:Some of you here paint him like a saint who ought to be canonized.

It's not that, I think pretty much most posters here know he's only human. Ok, apart from those who don't accept that his lousy taste in women can be a failing and expect perfection from him in that area!

Seriously though, it's just that some here feel uncomfortable when the discussion about George takes a more critical turn; I think they feel it's not respectful. I can understand that but this site is for discussion of all aspects of George that take our fancy; the good, the bad, the quirky, the whimsical and the outright ridiculous.

I was relating my comments on what the above discussion included about what people write on other sites. No one here out and out calls George fowl names and say terrible untruths about him.I stopped reading comments on the so called news sites because of that. Also you can see that it's the same people from site to site.

Yes I might be protective but never said he was a saint far from it. In my opinion he is a bit of a devil but that doesn't take away his good. It only makes him human and we all hurt people all the time no matter how we try not to.

I personally don't stress someone's bad points as long as their good out weighs the bad. Besides being a bit of a bad boy so to speak is part of his charm. So I guess I had better canonize him next week.xxx

more than a bit if a devil
I am sure

I read an interview in which George said that for him it's a nightmare to think that a man could be interested in him and then I read another interview where he says that will not say if he is gay or not gay compared to the comunitò gay.! Clearly these two interviews are bucking but George, even if someone idealizes, is and will remain a man with the contradictions of all men. I do not agree that affirm or deny being gay means greater respect for the gay community, or you're gay or you're not gay.Stating one thing or the other simply means telling the truth otherwise it means keeping a suspense that will surely not be detrimental to the gay community but not even respect it. Hey George here is the controversy!

I often read, here and elsewhere, that George has the right to keep his private life private. He has said often enough that he has to keep some things for himself, which, if you think about it, we all do - if just to maintain our own sanity and sense of self. Just because he is a public figure and we all want to know so much about him, doesn't mean that we have a right to know. We can speculate all we want - nobody's stopping us - but I think his refusal to tell "the truth" is his way of saying "It's none of your business".

I think being gay is really a dead issue. I don't think many here believe he is. But if he was to answer that question many will tear it apart no matter how he says it. Look what they are doing to his magazine articles. They take one piece out of context and blow that way up. You can't win for losing. Love you GTC

Amen, Mazy!