George Clooney doesn’t have much to say about Britney Spears’ parenting skills (or lack there of), but he is coming to her defense regarding the way the paparazzi hounds her.
The former “ER” hunk went public with harsh remarks aimed at the paparazzi during a recent interview with news reporters. Last week the 46-year-old actor pulled off to the side of an L.A. street while he was riding his motorcycle with his girlfriend, Sarah Larson. He then spent 10 minutes admonishing the paps for getting too close for comfort.
In a video clip posted on TMZ.com Clooney lays into the photographers saying: “You can drive all you want, you can take my picture all you want, but what you cannot do is put people in danger.”
You’ll recall Clooney and Larson were injured in September when their motorcycle and a car collided on a road in New Jersey. (And Larson got back on to ride with him in crowded Los Angeles? Now that’s love.)
Following his terse exchange with photographers Clooney told news reporters that these days members of the paparazzi are nothing more than “bounty hunters.” Then, in an interesting turn of events Clooney noted that Britney Spears wouldn’t be forced to do half the crazy things she does behind the wheel of her car if it were not for the fact that she is constantly being preyed upon by paparazzi.
“You look at the footage of (Britney Spears) running the red light … there’s eight guys with cameras at night in the middle of the street,” Clooney told a reporter from TV’s “Entertainment Tonight.”
“What they’re doing is illegal,” the actor added. “It’s high-speed chases and they’re competing with each other. They’re not trying to catch me doing something stupid, they’re trying to create me doing something stupid. You don’t get to break all these laws and then say, ‘I’m just doing my job.'”
Clooney ended his comments by saying that he is not interested in restricting the rights of photographers who earn their living by capturing stars like Spears in action. However, the handsome actor maintains that photographers “shouldn’t be going 60 (miles per hour) down a one-way street” to do so.
Speaking of Spears’ dangerous driving skills, which have reportedly landed her in trouble with the court, it appears the trainwreck is amending her ways. (Interesting timing given that she is scheduled back in court tomorrow.)
New reports say the pop diva recently hired a driver… but it is just a rumor?
One news organization caught Britney being driven to the Four Season Hotel in Beverly Hills on Thanksgiving by a chauffer. But the next night paparazzi snapped the embattled pop princess back in the driver’s seat of her white Mercedes – wearing sunglasses.
YIKES!