George Clooney’s got a simple message for people resisting public health guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic: “Just put a fucking mask on.”
“The Midnight Sky” star railed against anti-maskers during an appearance on SiriusXM’s “Howard Stern Show” on Wednesday.
“This thought where everybody is like, ‘Well, it’s my freedom.’ It’s like, that’s not how this shit works, dumbass,” the actor and director said.
“Your freedom is this: You’re free to smoke until your lungs turn black, but you can’t do it on the bus. And you’re free to drink until your liver comes out your ass, but you can’t drink and then get behind the wheel of a car.”
The 59-year-old also stressed that there are some rules that the public must follow in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
“Put on a fucking mask and we’ll get through this. We’ve got vaccines coming — let’s save another 60,000 lives before the vaccines,” he said.
Stern chimed in that he couldn’t understand why Donald Trump has not been more supportive of mask-wearing. The president has seldom been seen in a mask and repeatedly mocked others for wearing them despite advice from public health experts that they are key to stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Clooney, who’s been critical of Trump in the past and told The Guardian recently that he used to see him on the New York party circuit in the 1990s, told Stern he recalled Trump as a “dumb goofball.”
“He was the guy that came up to us at the Stone Rose [lounge in New York] and sat at our table when he wasn’t invited and then would say, ‘What’s the name of the waitress?’”
Clooney has been promoting his new sci-fi film, “The Midnight Sky,” which was released on Netflix over the weekend.
A HuffPost Guide To Coronavirus
- How long does it take for the coronavirus vaccine to work?
- Which masks will actually keep your face warm this winter?
- Can you close your COVID “bubble” without losing friends forever?
- How will spending the holidays in quarantine affect our mental health?
- What happens to all those face masks and gloves we’re tossing in the trash?
- Find all that and more on our coronavirus hub page.