George Clooney on Friday rejected the apology by a British tabloid about its story “insinuating religious tensions” in his marriage to fiance Amal Alamuddin, calling it “a premeditated lie”.
The actor penned another op-ed in the USA Today, saying the Daily Mail’s claim that its article was not a fabrication but “based the story on conversations with senior members of the Lebanese community”, is a lie.
“The problem is that none of that is true. The original story never cites that source, but instead goes out of its way to insist on four different occasions that ‘a family friend’ spoke directly to the Mail. A ‘family friend’ was the source. So, either they were lying originally or they’re lying now,” Clooney wrote in his article.
The 53-year-old actor cited a previous article by the paper to point out that “they knew ahead of time that they were lying.”
“Furthermore, they knew ahead of time that they were lying. In an article dated April 28, 2014, reporter Richard Spillett writes in the Mail that ‘Ramzi, (Amal’s father), married outside the Druze faith,’ and a family friend said that ‘Baria, (Amal’s mom), is not Druze.’
The Mail knew the story in question was false and printed it anyway,” Clooney wrote. “What separates this from all of the ridiculous things the Mail makes up is that now, by their own admission, it can be proved to be a lie.
In fact, a premeditated lie. “So I thank the Mail for its apology. Not that I would ever accept it, but because in doing so they’ve exposed themselves as the worst kind of tabloid,” Clooney said.
The tabloid had published a report recently where it claimed that Alamuddin’s mother, Baria, wanted her daughter to be married within the relatively small Druze sect instead of marrying the actor, forcing it to apologise later. Alamuddin is a London-based lawyer, who got engaged to Clooney in April. (PTI)
