As BWW reported earlier this week, George Clooney penned a special feature appearing exclusively in USA TODAY in which he slammed a recent report in the UK's Daily Mail, which he said was a "completely fabricated story."
The following day, MailOnline took the story down and issued a statement, apologizing to the actor and saying it was "not a fabrication but supplied in good faith by a reputable and trusted freelance journalist."
It added, "However, we accept Mr. Clooney's assurance that the story is inaccurate and we apologise to him, Miss Amal Alamuddin and her mother, Baria, for any distress caused."
Today, in an exclusive op ed for
USA Today, the actor rejects the Daily Mail's apology. Writes Clooney:
There is one constant when a person or company is caught doing something wrong. The coverup is always worse.
In this case, the Daily Mail has printed an apology for insinuating religious tensions where there are none. In the apology, managing editor Charles Garside claims that the article was "not a fabrication," but "based the story on conversations with senior members of the Lebanese community."
The problem is that none of that is true. The original story never cites that source, but instead goes out of its way to insist on four different occasions that "a family friend" spoke directly to the Mail. A " family friend" was the source. So either they were lying originally or they're lying now.
Furthermore, they knew ahead of time that they were lying. In an article dated April 28, 2014, reporter Richard Spillett writes in the Mail that "Ramzi, (Amal's father), married outside the Druze faith," and a family friend said that "Baria, (Amal's mom), is not Druze." The Mail knew the story in question was false and printed it anyway.
