George Clooney praised Parkland students leading Saturday’s anti-gun March and said they “make me proud of my country again,” according to The Guardian Friday.
“Amal [Clooney] and I are 100% behind you and will be marching in DC on the 24th, but we both feel very strongly that this is your march. Your moment. Young people are taking it to the adults and that has been your most effective tool,” the 56-year-old actor wrote in a letter to the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 22: Executive producer George Clooney (R) and his wife Amal Clooney arrive at the premiere of Paramount Pictures’ ‘Suburbicon’ at the Village Theatre on October 22, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
“The fact that no adults will speak on the stage in DC is a powerful message to the world that if we can’t do something about gun violence then you will,” he added. “The issue is going to be this, anyone you ask would feel proud to be interviewed by you but it’s so much more effective if it’s young people.”
“You could talk to a dozen kids like the young kids from Chicago and LA that Emma met with,” he continued. “You could take over the Guardian and make it tell the stories of children by children. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to point to this moment and say it belongs to you. You certainly should do what you want but that would be my hope for you.”
“Amal and I stand behind you, in support of you, in gratitude to you,” the actor explained. “You make me proud of my country again.”
The kids had requested an interview with him after The Guardian turned over its media website on Friday to the students that run the school newspaper. Instead, he wrote a letter.
Clooney has donated $500,000 to Saturday’s “March For Our Lives,” Fox News reported. Other celebrities who have contributed include Oprah Winfrey and film director Steven Spielberg.