George Clooney denies fight

[muchlove]

Clooney's London Broil

by Gina Serpe
Nov 4, 2005, 1:35 PM PT



Seemed more like bad night and bad luck for George Clooney following the London premiere of his latest film, Good Night, and Good Luck.

The actor is emphatically denying a widely circulated report from Britain's Evening Standard that he was involved in a drunken brawl with a security guard at a premiere party early Friday.


The newspaper claimed Clooney became embroiled in a pushing fight with a bouncer at Soho's Meza nightclub for allegedly failing to keep paparazzi at bay.

The Standard quoted an anonymous onlooker saying the bust-up occurred after a member of the bar's security staff left Clooney unattended at the club's back entrance.

"The security guard was walking down the alley and George screamed at him, 'Come back here,' and then he said, 'I am going to f---ing have you!' " the purported witness was quoted in the newspaper.

The same club gawker reported that the "disheveled" A-lister only backed away from the confrontation when his ex-girlfriend, British model and TV hostess Lisa Snowdon, got involved.

The article claims Clooney was quickly whisked away in a waiting car.

"You just don't expect George Clooney to start a fight with a security guard," the unnamed witness told the paper. "I was shocked."

As was Clooney upon hearing the report.

The actor released a statement through his publicist, Stan Rosenfeld, Friday, denying any altercation.

Rosenfeld labeled the Standard's report "inaccurate," adding "George did not get into a fight with a security guard. He did not say, 'I will have you.' "

What Clooney did do, Rosenfeld said, was get into an argument with "someone connected with the movie."

"While it had nothing to do with the paparazzi, it did have everything to do with someone being unkind to a woman," the publicist said.

"While no punches were thrown, George told the person to knock it off."

No further details on the incident were released, and Rosenfeld didn't reveal who the woman was, though he did say it was not, as reported, Clooney's former flame.

For his part, the former ER doc defended his behavior. "I won't stand by while someone is being insulted and maligned," he said in the statement. "No one I know would."

Good Night, and Good Luck, a drama about iconic journalist Edward R. Murrow's confrontations with Senator Josephy McCarthy cowritten, directed by and starring Clooney, is currently in theaters in North America.

eonline

Photos of Clooney moments after the "fight" are here: http://www.gossiprocks.com/forum/showthread.php?p=42726