George Clooney has a celebrity credit card, and he's not afraid to use it

George Clooney has a celebrity credit card, and he’s not afraid to use it

Aug. 29, 2010 8:29 PM PT

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What makes George Clooney get involved in charitable work? It’s a simple matter of sharing the wealth.

‘If you have a tremendous amount of heat from the spotlight, then you’re able to shine a light in a different direction, and it’s just deflecting,’ the Bob Hope Award winner said Sunday at the Emmy Awards. ‘My dad calls it a celebrity credit card that you try to cash in in other places.’

It’s not that Clooney knows anything special, for example, when it comes to something like earthquake recovery. ‘I said I wasn’t a Haiti expert. I was a fund-raising expert more than anything.’

Seems he’s a bit of a basketball expert, however.

‘My day today was, John Krasinski came over my house with a bunch of guys and we played basketball, and if you see him later, he’s limping.

‘And I just want to say, he’s lost a step.’

-- Amy Kaufman and Christie D’Zurilla

Ministry of Gossip

Amy Kaufman

Amy Kaufman is a columnist at the Los Angeles Times, where she writes the A-1 column “For Real With Amy Kaufman.” The series examines the lives of icons, underdogs and rising stars to find out who the people are shaping our culture — for real. Since joining The Times in 2009, she has profiled hundreds of influential figures including Stevie Nicks, Nick Cannon, Drew Barrymore and Lady Gaga. She is also an investigative reporter and was part of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist team that covered the tragic shooting on the “Rust” film set. Her work often shines a light on the darker side of the entertainment business, and she has uncovered misconduct allegations against Randall Emmett and Russell Simmons. In 2018, her book “Bachelor Nation: Inside the World of America’s Favorite Guilty Pleasure” became a New York Times bestseller.

Christie D’Zurilla

Christie D’Zurilla is an assistant editor for entertainment news on the Fast Break team. A graduate of USC, she joined the Los Angeles Times in 2003 as a copy editor, started writing about celebrities in 2009 and has more than 34 years of journalism experience in Southern California.