George Clooney has criticized the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) for kicking out unknown actors for working during last year's strike - while letting better known strikebreakers like Elizabeth Hurley off the hook. Clooney is disgusted that the union cut the memberships of Mario Barbieri Cecchini, Gerry Donato and Robert Kalomeer after they were discovered working during the strike. However, when superstars like Liz, Tiger Woods and Shaquille O'Neal were discovered working at the same time, they only had to pay a fine and publicly apologize. Clooney says of Cecchini, Donato and Kalomeer, "Three of them needed the money a lot more than the other three. As a union, you cannot enforce laws based on celebrity, and the punishment must be uniform. This union was created not to protect the famous - they can take care of themselves - but to protect the struggling actor, even if that means from themselves." The SAG board voted to expel and publicly expose the three struggling actors on 14 October, while rejecting Clooney's offer to pay their fines. SAG spokesman Greg Krizman says, "We appreciate George's thoughts. Our rules are not enforced based on celebrity and punishments are indeed uniformly based on the unique set of features of each individual case."...
- 10/26/2001
- WENN
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