BY GEORGE
Source: www.speakup.com.br
Speaker: Chuck Rolando
Standard: American accent
Language level: Proficiency
George Clooney is a man who needs no introduction. In addition to being considering “one of the world’s sexiest men,” he is also an actor who invariably chooses interesting movies. He also spends a lot of time and energy raising money for – and bringing attention to – charity causes. And so, at the Emmys, when other actors received prizes for their work in television, Clooney was given the “Bob Hope Humanitarian Award” for his, quote unquote, “determined commitment and efforts to increase awareness of human rights issues and spark constructive response to international crises. “When he met with the press, he talked about the charity work.
Speaker: Chuck Rolando
Standard: American accent
Language level: Proficiency
George Clooney is a man who needs no introduction. In addition to being considering “one of the world’s sexiest men,” he is also an actor who invariably chooses interesting movies. He also spends a lot of time and energy raising money for – and bringing attention to – charity causes. And so, at the Emmys, when other actors received prizes for their work in television, Clooney was given the “Bob Hope Humanitarian Award” for his, quote unquote, “determined commitment and efforts to increase awareness of human rights issues and spark constructive response to international crises. “When he met with the press, he talked about the charity work.
George Clooney
(Standard American accent)
I don’t particularly do more than anybody else and the position I’m in. I try to pick subjects that I can learn about and then focus on and then try to do as much as I can and, if you have a tremendous amount of heat from the spotlight, then you’re able to shine a little bit more of a light in a different direction. It’s just deflecting. My dad calls it a celebrity credit that you just try to cash in on in other places. And people were asking me about Haiti expert, you know, more than anything, but you could name dozens of people on the music industry, in my industry and in a millions of other industries, by the way, they’re…they’re doing the same thing. I think if you’re in this position, you should do it.
BERNAD AND BRAD
He was then asked whether there was a public figure whom he personally admired:
George Clooney
There are people that I’ve worked with personally that I’ve found…the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, has been pretty amazing. He sort of started Doctors Without Borders, but he’s always very involved in other events. I know him personally and I’ve stumbled onto him in the Congo, in tiny villages, and I always find him to be sort of amazing in…in that way. He wouldn’t have to be doing that at this point in his life and…but there’s in terms of well-known celebrities, I mean, you know, Brad’s in (Brad Pitt), you know, New Orleans right now and he’s done a tremendous job of trying to bring focus and build houses. He’s hit u all up for dough on building houses, and he’s really good at that. I’m impressed, but there’s a lot of people doing a lot of really good stuff out there right now.
BONO
And he was asked whether there was anyone had inspired him:
George Clooney
You learn from people who do it really well. I mean, Bono was very good at that idea of…so many of our friends have…they’re people that have been doing this for ever. You know, this is not something new, from the War bonds during World War II! We’re not reinventing the wheel here. All we’re trying to do is say that, if there’s going to be a tremendous amount of attention placed on us, it’s too much, then we should try and deflect some of it onto some people who could really use it. That’s all it is and, if you can do it effectively and do it without harming people along the way, then it’s a good thing, that’s all.
BUT…
Yet, even though celebrities like Clooney do a lot of charity work, the money doesn’t always reach the victims. Clooney was asked how closely he and his colleagues monitored the money thy raised:
George Clooney
In all of these fundraisers we’ve been incredibly responsible with because every one of the places…for instance, we had seven and, at sometimes, eight different places that we gave the money to: the Red Cross, Oxfam, World Food Program, and, you know, every one of them at one point or another have had financial troubles. They’ve gotten themselves in a little dutch. W make it our responsibility to make sure that the money is used in the
right way, for all of them. And we’ve done that in all of these, you know, fundraisers and have always done it. We keep close tabs on them. It’s important to do.
WHAT ABOUT BOB?
He was also asked about Bob Hope, the great late comedian who gave his name to the humanitarian award.
George Clooney
Well, first of all, he did it so effortlessly. It wasn’t just the USO show. That’s the thing that everybody remembers him for, that he did for 50 years, but he did so many tremendous actors. He did it all. And it was…also very quit, but he always did it with a great sense of humor.
