George Clooney Calls Out ‘Authoritarians’ in Venice Golden Lion Speech

George Clooney delivered a moving speech about the power of art in times of political turmoil at Venice Film Festival on Wednesday night, saying: “Stories are always dangerous to people who peddle in fear.”

The Oscar winner was on hand at the festival’s opening ceremony to accept the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, which he poked fun at in the beginning of his speech. “You know, when they tell you that you’re gonna be getting a lifetime achievement award, there are really two things that come to mind,” he said. “The first is what an incredible honor this is. And then the second is, uh, do they know something that I don’t?”

After reflecting a bit on his 45-year career, which he called a “series of happy accidents,” Clooney ruminated on the importance of film festivals as a way of reminding the world that we’re not “as different as we’re constantly being told.”

“We’re living through a moment in time where the people in charge and people with the most money are telling us to fear one another,” Clooney said. “But we know better than that, don’t we? Because history does teach us a lesson.”

He continued, “The first people that authoritarians try to shut down are not politicians. They’re journalists who ask questions, they’re the artists who refuse simple answers, the filmmakers, writers, actors and musicians who insist that someone you never met is deserving of your empathy.”

Clooney asserted that “stories are always dangerous to people who peddle in fear” and “the people who are afraid of books and music and stories are never the heroes in history.”

He added, “So yes, movies don’t stop wars, they don’t lower inflation, they don’t fix elections. But they do do something remarkable. They remind us that a stranger is never stranger, and that he might just be the hero in somebody else’s story. And if we can still sit together in the dark and care…