The Celebrity Truth

George Clooney has been silenced by some members of the Untied Nations after taking up his role as a UN messenger of peace, with the movie star explaining the move by saying that some people "don’t feel that I should be speaking to them".

The 46-year-old actor accepted the role after a two-week trip touring war-ravaged Darfur, the Central African Republic, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Talking with the media after his day at the UN headquarters, Clooney said, "I don’t know that I’ll achieve anything. What I expect to do is not sit on the sidelines and talk about it, but get involved. An Oscar’s a nice thing to have in your life, but this isn’t just a sort of an honour, it’s a responsibility."

Discussing Russia and France’s opposition to the actor addressing the UN meeting, Clooney responded, "There are groups that don’t feel that I neccessarily class up the joint, and don’t feel that I should be speaking to them. I am very proud to be here as a messenger of peace, and the message is: That the world is watching, and that at this point we cannot afford to fail. There’s a lot more responsibility with this one than with the Oscar, which all you really have to do is, you know, drink after the party."

Clooney’s explains that his two-week trip, in which he was accompanied by the assistant secretary general of peacekeeping operations, Jane Holl Lute, "was planned in secret for obvious reasons – and worse yet, they might have seen some of my films."

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Photo courtesy of The Associated Press.  Taken by Carolyn Kastor.

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