Is This How George Clooney Really Feels About Social Media?
Hollywood A-lister George Clooney is turning 60, and as he gets older, he's come to realize a harsh truth about life as a celebrity in a world where social media is so prominent. It dawned on him at a particularly scary moment; he was in a motorcycle accident a few years ago in Sardinia, Italy where he thought he was going to die: "I was waiting for my switch to turn off," Clooney told The Times.
The realization about social media and fame came when he noticed that as he lay on the ground screaming, people were filming him on their phones. "If you're in the public eye, what you realize when you're on the ground thinking it's the last minute of your life is that, for some people, it's just going to be entertainment for their Facebook page. I'm a pretty positive guy, but that told me — clearly — that you really are here just for their entertainment."
This isn't the first time Clooney has revealed not so positive opinions of social media.
George Clooney won't ever be on social media
You won't ever see George Clooney with his own social media account. And it's for a pretty logical reason. "I like to have a drink at night," he told Variety. "I could easily say something stupid, and I also don't think you need to be that available. I don't see Matt [Damon] or Brad [Pitt] or myself wanting to get our thoughts out in a 140-character-thing at 3 in the morning."
Plenty of celebrities have gotten in trouble from drunk tweeting; Adele's management team decided that she wasn't allowed to tweet until it was screened by two other people (from Bustle). So Clooney may have a point.
Clooney also seems to want to keep his fans interested in seeing his movies by not going social media. He told Fusion in an interview, "If you're gonna ask people to pay money to come see you in a movie, they don't need to know your every thought all the time. I think there has to be some element of mystery" (via Esquire).