George Clooney fires back at Trump after US president mocks his French citizenship | George Clooney

George Clooney is lashing out at US President Donald Trump for criticizing France’s decision to grant the Hollywood actor and his family French citizenship.

The 64-year-old Oscar winner, his wife, Amal Alamuddin Clooney, and their two children became French citizens earlier this month after living for years on a property in the south of France.

Clooney praised French privacy laws that have largely protected his family from international media intrusion, as well as the ability to raise his children outside Hollywood.

Trump, whose administration has supported anti-immigration parties in Europe, wrote on Truth Social that France was welcome to visit the Ocean’s Eleven star, who is a longtime Democratic supporter, fundraiser and outspoken critic of the president.

“Good news! George and Amal Clooney, two of the worst political prognosticators of all time, have officially become citizens of France which is unfortunately in the middle of a major crime problem due to their absolutely terrible handling of immigration,” Trump wrote.

“Clooney has received more publicity for politics than for his very few totally mediocre films,” the president added. “He wasn’t a movie star at all, he was just an average guy who constantly complained about common sense in politics.”

Referring to the US midterm elections on November 3, Clooney responded to The Hollywood Reporter: “I totally agree with the current president. We need to make America great again. We’ll start in November.”

The news that Clooney and his family are becoming French comes before language requirements for citizenship are tightened for everyone else under new immigration rules from January 1.

A junior member of French President Emmanuel Macron’s government had also criticized the decision to grant passports despite Clooney speaking poor French.

“Personally, I understand the feeling of some French people to have double standards,” Interior Minister Marie-Pierre Vedrenne told France Info radio. “We need to be careful about the message we send.”

His boss, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs defended this decision.

The civil code specifies that “French nationality may be conferred by naturalization, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to any French-speaking foreigner who requests it and who contributes through his distinguished services to the influence of France and the prosperity of its international economic relations. »

Under the new immigration rules, applicants will need a certificate proving they have a level of French allowing them to enter a French university. They will also have to pass a civic knowledge test.

But Clooney admitted that his French remained poor. “I love French culture, your language, even if I’m still bad after 400 days of classes,” the actor told RTL radio – in English – in December.

His wife, an international human rights lawyer with dual Anglo-Lebanese nationality, speaks French fluently.

Clooney purchased Domaine du Canadel, a former wine estate, near the Provençal town of Brignoles, in 2021. He said it was where his family was “the happiest”.

Nunez, the interior minister, said he was “very happy” that the actor and his family had become French, saying the country was lucky to have them.

The French Foreign Ministry said the granting of passports to the Clooneys “satisfies the conditions set by law” for naturalization, having “followed a rigorous procedure including security investigations, regulatory naturalization interviews at the prefecture and the payment of tax stickers.”

The Clooneys “contribute through their distinguished services to the international influence and cultural prestige of France” through their role as actors in the film industry, adds the ministry, which “would only contribute to maintaining and promoting France’s position in this essential economic sector”.

Amal Clooney is “a renowned lawyer” who “regularly collaborates with academic institutions and international organizations based in France,” adds the ministry.

Around 48,800 people acquired French nationality by decree in 2024, according to figures from the Interior Ministry.

Clooney isn’t the only one who wants a French passport: Hollywood director Jim Jarmusch announced Friday that he was also applying, telling French radio that he wanted “a place where I could escape the United States.”

Agence-France Presse contributed to this report