Seth Meyers Interviews George Clooney, Does Not Mention Biden

It was easily the elephant in the room, but “Late Night” host Seth Meyers avoided the topic altogether. That topic involved guest George Clooney’s interaction with then-President Joe Biden when Biden did not recognize…

Sandra RhodesJun 3, 20252 min read

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The book documented the exchange.

The following is an excerpt from the book.

“You know George,” the assisting aide told the President, gently reminding him who was in front of him. “Yeah, yeah,” the President said to one of the most recognizable men in the world, the host of this lucrative fund-raiser. “Thank you for being here.”

“Hi, Mr. President,” Clooney said.

“How are ya?” the President replied.

“How was your trip?” Clooney asked.

“It was fine,” the President said.

It seemed clear that the President had not recognized Clooney.

“It was not O.K.,” recalled the Hollywood V.I.P. who had witnessed this moment. “That thing, the moment where you recognize someone you know—especially a famous person who’s doing a fucking fund-raiser for you—it was delayed. It was uncomfortable.”

“George Clooney,” the aide clarified for the President.

“Oh, yeah!” Biden said. “Hi, George!”

Clooney was shaken to his core. The President hadn’t recognized him, a man he had known for years.

“It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010,” Clooney wrote in the opinion piece. “He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”