--- title: George Clooney Says Money He Raised for Clinton Is 'Obscene' description: George Clooney on Sunday admitted that the amount of money he’s raised for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is “obscene” canonical: https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-17T19:34:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:20.374Z article:section: Politics og:title: George Clooney Admits Money He Raised for Hillary Clinton Is 'Obscene' og:description: "It’s ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics" og:url: https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt271823931bdecb76/69888f748e060136a3465783/george-clooney-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Men Who Stare At Goats Red Carpet - 66th Venice Film Festival og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: George Clooney Admits Money He Raised for Hillary Clinton Is 'Obscene' twitter:description: "It’s ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt271823931bdecb76/69888f748e060136a3465783/george-clooney-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # George Clooney Admits Money He Raised for Hillary Clinton Is 'Obscene' ## Video: CNN Democratic Debate: Clinton Gets Defensive Over Tax Returns [Watch (HLS stream): CNN Democratic Debate: Clinton Gets Defensive Over Tax Returns](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PbUcnTd5.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2016-04-15_  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 17, 2016 7:34 PM UTC  Actor George Clooney attends "The Men Who Stare At Goats" premiere at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival on Sept. 8, 2009 in Venice, Italy. Actor George Clooney attends "The Men Who Stare At Goats" premiere at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival on Sept. 8, 2009 in Venice, Italy.Gareth Cattermole-Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Apr 17, 2016 7:34 PM UTC George Clooney on Sunday [admitted that the amount of money he’s raised](http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/17/george-clooney-hillary-clinton-fundraiser-obscene-money) for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is “obscene.” The Hollywood star and his wife Amal hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in California on Friday, charging $33,400 to $353,400 for tickets, the _Guardian_ reports. The event drew nearly 200 protesters, Clooney told NBC’s Chuck Todd on [_Meet the Press_](http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/compressed-clooney-party-politics-and-the-bathroom-bill-667937347643). “Yes, I think it’s an obscene amount of money,” the actor said when asked to comment on the criticism. “I think, you know, that we had some protesters last night when we pulled up in San Francisco and they’re right to protest, they’re absolutely right, it is an obscene amount of money.” “The Sanders campaign when they talk about it is absolutely right. It’s ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree, completely,” he added. Sanders later praised Clooney for his comments, saying he had “a lot of respect for George Clooney’s honesty and integrity on this issue” during an appearance on CNN’s [_State of the Union_](http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/17/politics/bernie-sanders-george-clooney/). “One of the great tragedies is that big money is buying elections,” Sanders said. The Vermont senator also told CNN that he thinks Clooney is supporting the wrong presidential candidate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/"},"headline":"George Clooney Admits Money He Raised for Hillary Clinton Is 'Obscene'","datePublished":"2016-04-17T19:34:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:20.374Z","description":"\"It’s ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics\"","url":"https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt271823931bdecb76/69888f748e060136a3465783/george-clooney-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt271823931bdecb76/69888f748e060136a3465783/george-clooney-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Men Who Stare At Goats Red Carpet - 66th Venice Film Festival","caption":"Actor George Clooney attends \"The Men Who Stare At Goats\" premiere at the Sala Grande during the 66th Venice Film Festival on Sept. 8, 2009 in Venice, Italy.","creditText":"Gareth Cattermole-Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/","name":"George Clooney Admits Money He Raised for Hillary Clinton Is 'Obscene'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"CNN Democratic Debate: Clinton Gets Defensive Over Tax Returns","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PbUcnTd5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-04-15T01:47:28.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PbUcnTd5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/","duration":"PT1M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4297055/george-clooney-obscene-hillary-clinton/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```