The New York Times recently profiled Scott Jacqmein, an actor from Dallas who sold his likeness to TikTok for $750 and a free trip to the Bay Area. He hasn’t landed any TV shows, movies, or commercials, but his AI-generated likeness has — a virtual version of Jacqmein is now “acting” in countless ads on TikTok. As the Times put it, Jacqmein “fields one or two texts a week from acquaintances and friends who are pretty sure they have seen him pitching a peculiar range of businesses on TikTok.”

Now, Jacqmein “has regrets.” But why? He consented to sell his likeness. His image isn’t being used illegally. He wanted to act, and now — at least digitally — he’s acting. His regrets seem less about ethics and more about economics.

The more perfect the imitation, the greater the lie. What people crave isn’t flawless illusion — it’s authenticity.

Times reporter Sapna Maheshwari suggests as much. Her story centers on the lack of royalties and legal protections for people like Jacqmein.

She also raises moral concerns, citing examples where digital avatars were used to promote objectionable products or deliver offensive messages. In one case, Jacqmein’s AI double pitched a “male performance supplement.” In another, a TikTok employee allegedly unleashed AI avatars reciting passages from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” TikTok removed the tool that made the videos possible after CNN brought the story to light.

When faces become property

These incidents blur into a larger problem — the same one raised by deepfakes. In recent months, digital impostors have mimicked public figures from Bishop Robert Barron to the pope. The Vatican itself has had to denounce fake homilies generated in the likeness of Leo XIV. Such fabrications can mislead, defame, or humiliate.

But the deepest problem with digital avatars isn’t that they deceive. It’s that they aren’t real.

Even if Jacqmein were paid handsomely and religious figures embraced synthetic preaching as legitimate evangelism, something about the whole enterprise would remain wrong. Selling one’s likeness is a transaction of the soul. It’s unsettling because it treats what’s uniquely human — voice, gesture, and presence — as property to be cloned and sold.

When a person licenses his “digital twin,” he doesn’t just part with data. He commodifies identity itself. The actor’s expressions, tone, and mannerisms become a bundle of intellectual property. Someone else owns them now.

That’s why audiences instinctively recoil at watching AI puppets masquerade and mimic people. Even if the illusion is technically impressive, it feels hollow. A digital replica can’t evoke the same moral or emotional response as a real human being.

Selling the soul

This isn’t a new theme in art or philosophy. In a classic “Simpsons” episode, Bart sells his soul to his pal Milhouse for $5 and soon feels hollow, haunted by nightmares, convinced he’s lost something essential. The joke carries a metaphysical truth: When we surrender what defines us as human — even symbolically — we suffer a real loss.

For those who believe in an immortal soul, as Jesuit philosopher Robert Spitzer argues in “Science at the Doorstep to God,” this loss is more than psychological. To sell one’s likeness is to treat the image of the divine within as a market commodity. The transaction might seem trivial — a harmless digital contract — but the symbolism runs deep.

Oscar Wilde captured this inversion of morality in “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” His protagonist stays eternally young while his portrait, the mirror of his soul, decays. In our digital age, the roles are reversed: The AI avatar remains young and flawless while the human model ages, forgotten and spiritually diminished.

Jacqmein can’t destroy his portrait. It’s contractually owned by someone else. If he wants to stop his digital self from hawking supplements or energy drinks, he’ll need lawyers — and he’ll probably lose. He’s condemned to watch his AI double enjoy a flourishing career while he struggles to pay rent. The scenario reads like a lost episode of “Black Mirror” — a man trapped in a parody of his own success. (In fact, “The Waldo Moment” and “Hang the DJ” come close to this.)

Photo by imaginima via Getty Images

The moral exit

The conventional answer to this dilemma is regulation: copyright reforms, consent standards, watermarking requirements. But the real solution begins with refusal. Actors shouldn’t sell their avatars. Consumers shouldn’t support platforms that replace people with synthetic ghosts.

If TikTok and other media giants populate their feeds with digital clones, users should boycott them and demand “fair-trade human content.” Just as conscientious shoppers insist on buying ethically sourced goods, viewers should insist on art and advertising made by living, breathing humans.

Tech evangelists argue that AI avatars will soon become indistinguishable from the people they’re modeled on. But that misses the point. The more perfect the imitation, the greater the lie. What people crave isn’t flawless illusion — it’s authenticity. They want to see imperfection, effort, and presence. They want to see life.

If we surrender that, we’ll lose something far more valuable than any acting career or TikTok deal. We’ll lose the very thing that makes us human.

Horror show: 'The View' too scary for conservatives, boasts Behar

Talk about a booby prize.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) recently declared war on the GOP on several fronts, and instead of a trophy or plaque, she’ll get the honor of matching wits with those doyennes of derangement on "The View" next week.

The ever-present smile. The blazing hypocrisy. The fact that 'Escape from New York' is getting an all-too real sequel starting ASAP.

Apparently, Taylor Greene’s recent ideological about-face makes her the perfect conservative foil on a show that tends to veer — if not careen — left.

Co-host Joy Behar recently griped that the show can't book right-leaning guests because, "They're scared of us."

Sure, Joy. Just like I'm "scared" of the 8-year-old Minecraft zombies who'll be knocking on my door for Kit-Kats tonight.

Here's a trick to make "The View" more compelling — stop treating guests who don't agree with you like fun-size Snickers bars. It's OK to have more than one.

Pretty payday

Julia Roberts is a genius. Or at least, her agent is.

The Oscar winner isn’t as active in Hollywood as in her box office heyday, but she still convinced a movie studio to pay her $20 million for her to star in “After the Hunt.”

The Me Too-themed drama cast Roberts as a professor torn between a trusted colleague (Andrew Garfield) and a bright student (Ayo Edebiri), who claims said colleague sexually assaulted her.

The film has made just $9 million worldwide and is already fading after two weeks of release. The budget? A reported $80 million, including that hefty price tag for the erstwhile “Pretty Woman.”

Paying 1995 rates in 2025 — when even the most beloved Oscar-winner can't guarantee butts in seats? Well, Hollywood is the land of make-believe.

Billion-dollar baby

You first, Billie.

Androgynous crooner Billie Eilish is taking a bold stand against billionaires. The “Bad Guy” singer addressed a room full of rich, powerful people to accept an “innovator” award from the Wall Street Journal Magazine. Said room included mega billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, apparently.

She used the moment to lecture the ultra rich.

“Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me. ... If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.”

Set aside the economic ignorance, the body shaming, and the fact that she’s a millionaire many times over. She just cut a gargantuan check to help defeat, check notes, "climate justice." Why not just go full Joker and set a mountain of cash on fire? At least she could write a song about it …

Don't mess with the Zohran

There’s nothing funny about the rise of Zohran Mamdani.

The future New York City mayor is a terror apologist, an anti-Israel zealot, and an economic illiterate. There’s more, but you get the picture. Still, political satirists should have a field day with Mamdani on so many levels.

The ever-present smile. The blazing hypocrisy. The fact that “Escape from New York” is getting an all-too real sequel starting ASAP.

Instead, comedians are standing down. Anyone shocked? A new study by Newsbusters shows that late-night comics are targeting everyone else in the crowded New York mayoral race save Mamdani.

“Only three out of 63 jokes were about the socialist front-runner,” the site tallied. And that doesn’t count comedian turned shill Jon Stewart comparing Mamdani to Jackie Robinson …

Kim K's moonshot

Reality stars say the darndest things.

It’s easy to poke fun at Kim Kardashian for her choice in suitors. That Kanye West pairing didn’t end well, did it?

Still, Ms. Kim is a savvy business person who transformed a sordid sex tape into a reality show empire. Just don’t ask her to teach a history class anytime soon.

Kardashian is co-starring with actress Sarah Paulson on the TV show “All’s Fair,” and apparently the two are quite chatty behind the scenes. Kardashian loves sharing her conspiracy theories with her co-star, including her belief that America never landed on the moon.

She pointed to a clip of Buzz Aldrin mishearing a question as part of her “proof.” In her defense, maybe she’s trying to recruit Candace Owens to her next reality show gig ...

'Fack' all

Comedy is truly on the comeback trail.

The woke mind virus is fading. Roasts are back in vogue. The recent “Naked Gun” reboot was funnier than anyone expected. Now, a new trailer for a “Downton Abbey” spoof looks like the year’s brightest surprise.

“Fackham Hall,” hitting theaters December 5, packs more laughs in its two-minute running time than some mainstream comedies. The physical shtick is priceless, and the oh, so stuffy “Downton Abbey” vibe begs for a good satirical swatting.

At this rate, even Jimmy Kimmel might make us laugh before 2025 ends.

'Farmer' George Clooney wouldn't last a minute with my family's sheep

George Clooney has it all. The villa on Lake Como, the Hollywood halo, the tequila fortune.

And now — apparently — a farm. He grows olives, you see. Presses them into artisanal oil. Talks lovingly about “the land.”

In Ireland, farmer suicide rates are among the highest in the country. In America, it’s even worse. Farming isn’t just lonely — it’s a daily battle against debt, drought, and despair.

It’s the sort of thing the lifestyle press laps up. The movie star who’s “gone back to nature,” barefoot among the groves, a rake in both senses of the word. But as someone raised on an actual farm in Ireland, I can’t help but laugh. Calling Clooney a farmer is like calling yourself a surgeon because you once removed a splinter with tweezers.

Knee-deep in muck

My father’s a real farmer. He’s the kind of man who measures days in chores, not hours. He’s out there in rain, shine, or two feet of snow, wrangling 100 cattle and 300 sheep with saintly patience. Starting at age 7, I spent 10 years doing the same thing. The man’s hands could sand a doorframe just by clapping. His back has carried more than hay bales. It’s borne the heavy burden of being taken for granted. Farmers feed everyone, yet everyone forgets them. They’re the engine of every economy and the punchline of every town.

The romantic idea of farming — what I call the “Clooney complex” — is built on Instagram filters and feckless fantasy. A celebrity buys a few acres, plants some lavender, adopts a goat named Aristotle, and suddenly it’s “sustainable living.” They wear linen shirts and wax lyrical about the “spiritual rhythm” of rural life, just before jetting back to L.A. in a jet that could single-handedly melt a glacier.

Meanwhile, the real farmer down the road is up at five, knee-deep in muck, coaxing a calf into the world in sideways sleet. The rhythm of real rural life sounds less like “peaceful simplicity” and more like an industrial power washer.

We don’t name our sheep. That’s something people who’ve never farmed don’t understand. When you’ve got 300 of the woolly little delinquents, sentimentality is a luxury you can’t afford. I’ve seen enough lambs die in winter to know why farmers are wary of names. We remember numbers. The birth tags. The weight. The cost of feed. The constant arithmetic of survival. Romanticizing farming is like romanticizing trench warfare — fine for those who've never experienced it firsthand.

Debt, drought, and despair

And yet, people love the image. The noble tiller of soil, weathered but wise, standing in a sunset, surrounded by his empire. They never show the invoices, broken fences, silage bills, oppressive environmental regulations, or the bank statements.

They don’t show the nights you lie awake wondering whether the mart price will rise or fall. They don’t show the hours spent alone, the silence broken only by the rattle of a gate or the cough of an animal on the way out. Farming is isolation dressed as independence. You’re your own boss, yes — but your employees are cows, and they never take a day off.

In Ireland, farmer suicide rates are among the highest in the country. In America, it’s even worse. Farming isn’t just lonely — it’s a daily battle against debt, drought, and despair.

Each season, costs climb higher: cement for sheds, grain for feed, diesel for tractors, even medicine for the herd. Profits shrink, pressure builds, and hope thins out like soil after too many harvests. American farmers are now three and a half times more likely to die by suicide than the average worker. The farm devours what it earns. It’s less a business than a benevolent parasite — you feed it in the hope it feeds you back.

RELATED: AI isn’t feeding you

Photo by Nikada via Getty Images

Learning from the land

But to the celebrity farmer, it’s a lovely way of life. Clooney can pose with his olives, Chris Pratt with his chickens, or "Top Gear" legend Jeremy Clarkson with his camera crew and call it “a return to roots.” Fine, let them have their fun. But real farming isn’t less a return than a sentence. It’s 70-hour weeks, constant pressure, and the faint but familiar panic of wondering what happens if you get sick. No stand-in. No understudy. Just you and the land, locked in an ancient marriage of necessity.

Don’t get me wrong — I love the land. There’s a holiness to it that city life can’t touch. I understand why people are drawn to it, even why they imitate it. But farming isn’t a hobby. It’s not therapy. It’s work in its rawest form — bone-deep, back-breaking, Sisyphus-like labor. And while actors can play at being farmers, farmers can’t play at being actors. When a calf’s stuck halfway out, the only thing rolling is your sleeves. There are no retakes.

If George Clooney wants to plant crops, fine. Let him. But I’ll believe he’s a farmer when he’s up at dawn to dig a drain, when his hands smell permanently of disinfectant. I’ll believe it when his holidays depend on the lambing schedule and not the film schedule. Until then, he’s just a gardener with glorious lighting.

Farming is a philosophy in itself. It teaches humility, patience, and a genuine appreciation for the good times. You learn to solve problems with what’s at hand — wire, hope, and plenty of profanity. It’s not glamorous, but it’s brutally honest.

So when I read about Clooney's olives, I smile. Until he has scraped muck from his boots with a stick, yelled at a stubborn sheepdog that won’t listen, and worked from first light to last, I’ll save my applause for the real ones: the men and women who work the land not for show, but for the soil itself. Owning a field doesn’t make you a farmer any more than starring in "The Perfect Storm" makes you a fisherman.

I'm with stupid: 'Dumb and Dumber' star plays pea-brained protest song

The star of “Dumb and Dumber” got ... even dumber?

Veteran actor Jeff Daniels has a regular side hustle as a cringeworthy MSNBC guest. He played a newsman on TV once, and now Daniels fancies himself a political wonk. Yeah, he’s the same guy who starred as James Comey in “The Comey Rule,” one of the most fact-free Hollywood productions ever.

'The real revolution going on in this country now is the Christian nationalist revolution — an attempt to upend the American dream and replace it with a theocracy.'

And that’s saying plenty.

This week, Daniels broke out his guitar on MSNBC to serenade the channel’s dwindling audience. The song in question? A ditty that helps him cope with President Donald Trump’s second term.

“Crazy World” features lyrics like this: “It’s nice to know in a world full of hate, there’s someone out there still making love.”

Groovy, man!

Everybody was kung fu fighting

“Sweep the leg! Sweep the leeeeeeeeg!”

Everything old is newish again, which means a “Karate Kid” musical is on the way. The production is getting its feet wet overseas with a spring 2026 tour in the U.K. before later arriving on Broadway’s West End.

Robert Mark Kamen, who wrote the original “Karate Kid” all the way back in 1984, also penned the musical update.

The four-film saga remained dormant for years before getting a new lease on life from both the 2010 remake featuring Jackie Chan and the celebrated Netflix series “Cobra Kai.” That second wind couldn't keep this summer's “Karate Kid: Legends" from conking out in theaters. Guess fans weren’t interested in uniting Chan with original franchise star Ralph Macchio.

Somewhere, Sensei Kreese is smiling ...

'Witch' way, modern star?

"The Scarlet Witch" is casting a hex on streamers.

Elizabeth Olsen, who brought that MCU character to life in multiple films as well as Disney+’s “WandaVision,” is taking a stand for the theatrical experience. Olsen says she refuses to appear in any studio films bound for streaming-only venues.

“If a movie is made independently and only sells to a streamer, then fine. But I don’t want to make something where [streaming is] the end-all. ... I think it’s important for people to gather as a community, to see other humans, be together in a space.”

That’s noble, but she may be fighting a losing battle. We’ve recently seen a flood of studio films flop in theaters, including “Roofman,” “Good Fortune,” and “Tron: Ares.” The theatrical model is still struggling post-pandemic, and the allure of “Netflix and chill” can be irresistible.

Plus, major stars like Robert De Niro, Dwayne Johnson, and Gal Gadot routinely appear in major streaming films without a second thought. If Daniel Day Lewis can memory hole his retirement plans, here’s betting Olsen may have a backpedal of her own coming soon ...

'Battle' babble

Say what you want about Leonardo DiCaprio’s “One Battle After Another,” a film glorifying radical violence against a corrupt U.S. government. It’s a perfect fit for that cousin who spends days getting his No Kings poster art just right.

The film follows a group of pro-immigration activists who use any means necessary to free “undocumented immigrants.” Viva the revolution!

Just don’t call “OBAA” a “left-wing” film, argues Variety’s Owen Gleiberman:

"The real revolution going on in this country now is the Christian nationalist revolution — an attempt to upend the American dream and replace it with a theocracy."

Yeah, that’s the tone of this fever-dream screed, so you can imagine the rest. Once the scribe takes a long, hot bath, he’s going to get to work on his next think piece: how Antifa is just an “anti-fascist” MeetUp group.

Blaze Media

Norwood scale

Kevin O’Leary is saying the quiet part out loud.

The “Shark Tank” honcho makes an appearance in “Marty Supreme,” an Oscar-bait movie coming this Christmas. Timothee Chalamet stars as a ping-pong prodigy trying to win the sport’s biggest prize. O’Leary, who knows the value of a dollar, said the project could have saved “millions” had it fallen back on AI extras instead of using actual people:

Almost every scene had as many as 150 extras. Now, those people have to stay awake for 18 hours, be completely dressed in the background. [They’re] not necessarily in the movie, but they’re necessary to be there moving around. And yet, it costs millions of dollars to do that. Why couldn’t you simply put AI agents in their place?

It's sacrilege in Hollywood circles to say that, but he’s probably not wrong. Hollywood is wrestling with the looming AI threat, including attacks on AI “actress” Tilly Norwood.

Let’s hope AI can’t train Tilly to scream, “Free Palestine!” at award shows. Then we’ll know Hollywood stars are really on the endangered species list.

One babble after another: A-list antifa can't stop trashing Trump

The walls are closing in!

Celebrities are turning up the rhetorical heat on President Donald Trump, proving once more that they didn’t learn their lesson from the last election.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s film oozes Oscar-season buzz. It’s a celebration of political violence and a mash note to anti-ICE attacks.

“Hacks” star Jean Smart just gave a shout-out to the latest No Kings rally, suggesting that President Trump is a dictator in waiting, or Hitler or, well, fill in the blank.

The current resident of the White House thinks that he has everybody fooled, but he has made it abundantly clear that he admires dictators and wishes to be one. And ironically this country was founded on a rebellion against having a king. So it’s ironic. The most patriotic thing that you can do is say, "No Kings." A king does not belong in the United States of America. So please, find a peaceful No Kings protest near you.

Peaceful? Now, that’s funnier than any “Hacks” subplot.

Not to be outdone, former D-list doyenne Kathy Griffin joined the conspiracy mob in alleging that Donald Trump didn’t win the 2024 election fair and square. Her proof? Hey, who needs proof?

Griffin used Trump’s former bestie, Elon Musk, to explain the theft.

Anyway, he's a, but he's a professional Nazi in my humble opinion, and he's good friends with Trump, and at one point, I don't know if you remember, but he was giving out million-dollar checks to people if they would vote for Trump. That's illegal. It's unconstitutional and illegal, so that was happening, and the fact that Trump won all seven swing states, which has never happened in the history of the U.S., makes it all very suspicious to me.

It's Fake News with a heaping helping of hysteria. At least no heads were severed along the way.

And then there’s singer/actress Renee Rapp. The “Mean Girls 2.0” star shouted “F**k ICE” and “F**k Trump” at a recent concert.

Gosh, Trump better resign before it's too late …

Squander lust

A million dollars here, a million dollars there, and all of a sudden, you’re talking about real money.

That’s Hollywood accounting, and it explains why Warner Bros. won’t sweat losing a cool $100 million on “One Battle After Another.” That’s despite endless fawning media coverage and a star-studded cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn.

Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s film oozes Oscar-season buzz. It’s a celebration of political violence and a mash note to anti-ICE attacks.

Liberal film critics love it, of course, but the inconvenient truth is that the movie will lose a fortune at the box office. The budget is just too big, and normie moviegoers would rather watch “Black Phone 2.” At least that film understands that the franchise’s child-killer, played by Ethan Hawke once more, is the bad guy and we’re meant to root against him.

For most companies, a loss like that would be catastrophic, but movie studios are perfectly fine with that kind of a fiscal gut punch. Why? The film is going to earn endless Oscar nominations and countless awards-season hosannas, and it’s the perfect Resistance storytelling.

Remember, it’s show "business," with an asterisk …

Warner Bros. Pictures

Hamas helpers

Who knew there were adults in the room within the Hollywood community? Paramount recently punched back against nearly 4,000 stars blacklisting Israel-linked projects. Now, it’s Warner Bros.’ turn:

Our policies prohibit discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, or ancestry. We believe a boycott of Israeli film institutions violates our policies. While we respect the rights of individuals and groups to express their views and advocate for causes, we will continue to align our business practices with the requirements of our policies and the law.

It's no accident that the announcement came after the Trump administration’s historic peace agreement in the Middle East. Still, we’ll applaud any baby steps toward a steel spine in La-La Land …

West wingnut

Bradley Whitford isn’t a big name like Griffin or Rob Reiner, but his TDS can stand toe to toe with the best of the worst. The "West Wing” alum raged against ICE and the GOP in toto this week, out-hyperbolizing even “The View” crew.

“I am living in a world where we have internment camps. … And the thing that's very upsetting to me right now, and we're giving these internment camps funny names. Like, they're some fun to be had in the inhumanity of it all. It's a very strange time for me.”

Maybe he’s mad because he thought of "Alligator Alcatraz" first but didn’t copyright it?

George Clooney criticizes Hollywood culture — now that he lives in France

Actor George Clooney says his children have a much better life growing up in France than they would have in Hollywood.

Clooney moved his family to France in 2024, taking root in Cotignac, a village in the southeast.

'I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life.'

After years of activism in the United States and abroad, Clooney revealed in an interview with Esquire that he did not want to raise his kids immersed in Hollywood culture, with their heads buried in technology and trying to avoid paparazzi.

"Yeah, we're very lucky," he told the outlet. "You know, we live on a farm in France. A good portion of my life growing up was on a farm, and as a kid I hated the whole idea of it. But now, for them, it's like — they're not on their iPads, you know? They have dinner with grown-ups and have to take their dishes in."

The interview with Clooney was painted as a majestic refuge for a star looking for a simple life, living on a farm with hundreds of acres of sprawling grapevines and olive trees, driving his kids around on a tractor.

"They have a much better life," Clooney continued. "I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life. France — they kind of don't give a s**t about fame. I don't want them to be walking around worried about paparazzi. I don't want them being compared to somebody else's famous kids."

Clooney's exodus from L.A. begs the question: Where in the world is a more progressive, Democrat-led landscape than California? The actor's history of activism would suggest he should feel right at home under Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images

The tip of the iceberg is Clooney's endorsement, and then retraction of support, for President Biden in 2024. Perhaps a condemnation from former first son Hunter Biden was enough for Clooney to want to permanently check out, but that was not exactly his first rodeo in politics.

Clooney was pictured sitting with then-Vice President Biden in 2009 before claiming that electing him as president in 2020 would be a "return to civility."

In 2012, Clooney and his father were arrested and released at a Washington, D.C., protest against alleged human rights abuses in Sudan by its government.

In 2020, Clooney and his and wife, Amal, donated $500,000 to the Equal Justice Initiative following George Floyd's death during the infamous "Summer of Love." The organization claimed at the time that the "United States did not commit to racial equality, [and] slavery did not end in 1865."

In their statements regarding policing in America, the group urged the country to "reimagine public safety and community health, reallocate funds from traditional policing to services that promote public safety and more effectively address the conditions that create poverty, inequality, and community distress."

RELATED: Democrats eat their own after Hunter Biden lashes out at party

Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images

Citing his father's insistence that it was his "civic duty" to stand up to bullies and racists, Clooney told People in 2020 that he felt he was in the same situation with his kids.

"I'm in the same situation as most fathers of 3-year-olds: I don't want my children when they're 15 years old to turn around and say, 'There was a time when they were putting kids in cages? ... And what did you do about that?'" Clooney boldly claimed.

"And if the answer is 'nothing,' then I would be ashamed," he said.

In 2019, Clooney continued his activism on behalf of Sudan, connecting it to a need for action against climate change.

"Global warming is making the desert larger; violence is moving people off the land — and they are moving by the millions,” he told CNN. "You care not just because it is the right thing to do, which it is, but because at one point or another, it is something that we will be dealing with," he claimed.

While the Clooneys call France their current home, they still own a villa in Italy, a home outside London, and residences in L.A. and New York City, according to Yahoo.

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O brother, where art thou? Loony lib Clooney ditches Dem-controlled Hollywood hellhole.

“Hollywood has the best moral compass.” —Harvey Weinstein.

“I ain’t raising my kids in this town.” —George Clooney.

OK, the second one isn’t a direct quote, but it’s close enough. The Oscar winner recently admitted a key reason he left La-La Land after marrying his legal eagle bride Amal.

The All-American Halftime Show will bring something that hasn't been part of football’s biggest day for a long time: patriotism.

The actor told Esquire about his bucolic life on a farm in France and why it’s a better fit for his young family.

“They have a much better life [in France]. I was worried about raising our kids in L.A., in the culture of Hollywood. I felt like they were never going to get a fair shake at life.”

What, no nepo baby plans?

Crime. Homelessness. Drugs. Lack of opportunity. Yes, the greater Hollywood area is no place to raise a family, and Clooney almost says it verbatim. Better yet, maybe if California stopped voting in hapless Democrats, its big cities might be more family-friendly?

Less than zero (stars)

Somebody had to say it.

Author and raconteur Bret Easton Ellis is sharing what no one in Hollywood will. The critical devotion to “One Battle After Another,” a cinematic love letter to violent radicals, is all about the film’s hard-Left, anti-ICE politics.

It’s kind of shocking to see these kind of accolades for — I’m sorry, it’s not a very good movie — because of its political ideology, and it’s so obvious that’s what they’re responding to, why it’s considered a masterpiece, the greatest film of the decade, the greatest film ever made. Because it really aligns with this kind of leftist sensibility.

He makes a solid point. The film features silly, cartoonish characters, gaping plot holes, and endless sympathy for terrorists. But it’s anti-ICE (without ever mentioning the acronym). Thus the raves.

And, Elllis predicts, the film will age badly. And soon. We’ll see. The only chance it doesn’t win Best Picture is if its momentum peaks too soon or enough anti-ICE attacks occur so that even woke Hollywood wakes up at last …

Pot, meet kettle

Jimmy Kimmel is probably sore he didn’t get an invite.

Some big-name comedians, including Bill Burr, Louis C.K., and Aziz Ansari, are taking heat for performing at a Saudi Arabian comedy festival. The regime is hardly immune to human rights abuse, and good luck roasting the royal family from any given stage.

So when Ansari showed up on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the host decided to grill him like Woodward and/or Bernstein.

“People are questioning why you would go over there and take their money to perform in front of these people,” Kimmel began. “They murdered a journalist [Jamal Khashoggi]. These are not good people over there.”

Ansari defended himself, saying he was speaking to a repressed gathering and it “could push things in a positive direction.”

What the “Parks and Recreation” alum should have said after that was, “Hey, why did you malign MAGA unfairly and never come close to apologizing?”

That would have shut Kimmel up …

Photo by: Will Heath/NBC via Getty Images

Patriots win

I guess we don’t have to learn Spanish in four months after all.

Turning Point USA is planning an alternative Super Bowl halftime show so that viewers don’t have to settle for Bad Bunny’s anti-Trump, anti-border-control shctick during the big game.

Now gridiron fans have a plan B for the game. The All-American Halftime Show will bring something that hasn't been part of football’s biggest day for a long time: patriotism.

Details are scarce regarding the talent, but it’s another sign that right-leaning Americans are fed up with the nonstop messaging coming out of the left (and the institutions the left has captured) …

Noah's no-no

Give Trevor Noah some credit. He’s consistent. Consistently unfunny, to be exact.

The far-left comedian is always up for a challenge. They said "The Daily Show" was unsinkable. To which new host Noah said "hold my beer" — and promptly drove off 1 million viewers.

Noah's latest trick? Find the funny in the gruesome public assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Now, gallows humor is a legitimate form of comedy, and sometimes dark humor can be a way to process grief. (See the Onion's 9/11 issue, for example.)

But Noah’s attempt at comedy failed on two basic levels.

“You have to admit, that is an incongruous, funny thing that happened," quipped the oh-so-clever comic. "You are there, on stage, and you’re like, ‘Let me tell you why people should have guns,’ wa-pahhh.”

First of all, supporting the Second Amendment is hardly equivalent to condoning wanton gun violence. If Kirk's brutal murder "proves" anything, it's that there will always be deranged souls willing to resort to violence.

And the comment itself — which hundreds of witless online wags made before Noah — barely qualifies as a joke. Which is on brand, we’ll give him that …

'Alien' director Ridley Scott trashes modern movies: 'Most of it is s**t'

Veteran director Ridley Scott didn't mince words when asked to describe the state of modern filmmaking. In fact, he needed just four letters: "s**t."

The ornery 87-year-old — the force behind iconic movies like "Alien," "Black Hawk Down," and "Gladiator" — brought down the hammer of justice during a public Q and A with his son Luke in London this week.

'I think a lot of films today are saved and made more expensive by digital effects, because what they haven't got is a great thing on paper first. Get it on paper.'

"Well, right now I'm finding mediocrity, we're drowning in mediocrity," he responded when asked about his own moviegoing habits, according to Yahoo.

Smurfy's law

Pretentious? Maybe, but it becomes more understandable if you consider the recent crop of multiplex mistakes foisted on the public, suggested the Guardian. The newspaper cited the recent "Smurfs" movie as well as the widely criticized live-action "Snow White" remake — which used "CGI dwarves [that] looked like semi-melted CGI gonks" — as evidence for the prosecution.

Director Ridley Scott on the set of the movie 'Alien,' 1979. Photo by Stanley Bielecki Movie Collection/Getty Images

During the sit-down at the British Film Institute Southbank, Scott said that this mediocrity prevails despite more movies being made than ever.

"The quantity of movies that are made today, literally globally, millions. There's not thousands, there's millions, and most of it is s**t," he declared.

Numbers game

The "Blade Runner" director then shared the math behind that determination.

"Eighty to 60% eh, 40% is the rest, and 25% of that 40 is not bad, and 10% is pretty good, and the top 5% is great," he explained, as if writing on a chalkboard. "I'm not sure about the portion of what I've just said, but in the 1940s, when there were perhaps 300 movies made, 70% of them were similar, for example."

Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott on the set of 'Blade Runner.' Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images

Man in the mirror

Still, there is at least one talented director still working today, affirmed Sir Scott.

"So what I do, and it's a horrible thing, but I've started to watch my own movies, and actually they're really good. And also, they don't age."

Scott continued his rave review, admitting that he was shocked by the quality of his own work.

"I watched 'Black Hawk [Down]' the other night, and I thought, 'How the hell did I do that?' But I think that occasionally there's a good one that will happen, it’s like a relief that there's somebody out there who's doing a good movie."

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

Scott then turned to a trend currently irritating moviegoers of all ages: directors attempting to save bad scripts with excessive CGI.

"I think a lot of films today are saved and made more expensive by digital effects, because what they haven't got is a great thing on paper first. Get it on paper," he said.

RELATED: Father-Son Movie Bucket List

'Hood' rich

Not everyone is ready to embrace this curmudgeonly view — even coming from a legend like Scott.

While Scott makes "a few" good points, his rant is "really rich coming from the director of 'Robin Hood,'" entertainment writer Natasha Biase told Align.

"He must have amnesia about some of his own movies," the writer added.

As for Hollywood, it seems to have forgotten how to get butts in seats.

A decrease in movie quality seems to be at least part of the reason about half the amount of tickets were sold in 2024 compared to 2004.

Scott told the audience that his favorite meal is yogurt and blueberries, because he "got over food years ago."

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Hollywood’s newest star isn’t human — and why that’s ‘disturbing’

Tilly Norwood is a stunning London-based actress climbing the Hollywood ladder and closing in on almost 50,000 Instagram followers.

But there’s one catch. As you peruse her page of smiles and poses, you realize that she’s not real. Rather, Norwood is an AI-generated character that’s been created by the AI division of the production company Particle6.

And according to Particle6 founder Eline Van der Velden, she’s looking for an agent.

While Van der Velden is reportedly negotiating with multiple agencies to represent the AI character, Hollywood is not happy, as actors have been voicing strong opposition.

One actress, Emily Blunt, told the magazine “Variety” in an interview, “Good Lord, we’re screwed. That is really, really scary.”

“Come on, agencies, don’t do that. Please stop. Please stop taking away our human connection,” she added.

Not usually on the same page with Hollywood actors and actresses, BlazeTV host Dave Landau couldn’t agree more.

“They’re trying to get representation for this AI, which is disturbing to me,” Landau comments.

“You know what’s funny,” BlazeTV co-host ¼ Black Garrett chimes in, “is that the SAG-AFTRA strikes were about AI and who controls it, not keeping it from being in the industry.”

“Yeah, they should have worked on that part,” Landau says.

In an attempt to defend her “creation,” Van der Velden wrote in a statement on Instagram: “To those who have expressed anger over the creation of our AI character Tilly Norwood: she is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work — a piece of art.”

“Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity,” she added.

“The creator of the AI-generated actress released a statement, which itself sounds generated by AI,” Landau laughs.

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Hollywood goes full antifa with 'One Battle After Another'

A specter is haunting America — the specter of left-wing radical violence. As the country balances on a knife edge and radical nutcases shoot up and burn churches and assassinate conservative icons, Hollywood figured it was time to throw a Molotov cocktail into the tinderbox.

I went and paid 17 good American dollars to see "One Battle After Another" so you don't have to. Fair warning: Better-paid critics than I have given this terrible movie — a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's 1991 novel "Vineland" — rave reviews. It has also generated plenty of precious "Oscar buzz" for director Paul Thomas Anderson as well as for stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio Del Toro, and Sean Penn.

Watching 'One Battle After Another' may not be entertaining, but its celebration of vitriol and murder is clarifying. This is not the usual 'anti-conservative' Hollywood bias.

Insidious propaganda

As you might suspect from the people involved, this is more than the usual Hollywood slop. It’s an insidious piece of propaganda that speaks to the depravity of the left and, I fear, wanders into wholly new territory that portends truly dark times ahead.

The movie's first offense is its running time: an interminable two hours and 50 minutes. (Am I the only one who thinks we need a new rating system for any movie over 90 minutes long? Rated NB = "Nap Before.")

The film opens with our antifa heroes violently attacking an ICE detention center to liberate the detainees. One wonders whether Juan, up here to work construction, might have some hesitation about white and black revolutionaries spraying AKs and gassing U.S. Border Patrol agents on his behalf, but the white liberal director’s myopic lens doesn't dwell on those questions.

Weed and self-pity

DiCaprio plays Bob Ferguson, a has-been revolutionary holed up in a Northern California sanctuary city, padding around in a weed haze, a bathrobe, and self-pity. His daughter Willa, played by Chase Infiniti, scolds him for misgendering her nonbinary prom date. The revolution will always eat its own.

Her mother, Perfidia Beverly Hills, was a rat who turned state's witness and slept with Penn’s comically over-the-top ICE agent, named Lockjaw. Willa may be his biological daughter. Lockjaw is evil because he wants border security and has a Nazi haircut. Hollywood eschewed subtlety a long time ago.

Lockjaw, meanwhile, wants to impress a cabal of Patagonia-vested white supremacists — a hedge-fund-meets-Gestapo ensemble who seem to have wandered in from a bad HBO pilot — so they'll let him join their club. How better to do that than by hunting down our antifa heroes?

Photo by Brooks Kraft LLC/Corbis via Getty Images

Empty artistry

Here’s the tragic part: Paul Thomas Anderson is still a genius. The camera work is exquisite. The pacing (when he wants it to be) is taut. The centerpiece car chase is one of the most technically stunning action sequences of the century.

Anderson is, after all, the man behind "There Will Be Blood" and "Boogie Nights." But artistry is empty if it doesn't serve the truth, and "One Battle After Another" is pure left-wing propaganda. The film glorifies the fantasy of bloodshed, depicting conservative America not as wrongheaded neighbors but as literal Nazis to be liquidated. The revolutionaries are cast as sexy, tragic heroes. Blowing up a senator’s office? Righteous. Knocking out half of Los Angeles’ power grid? Revolutionary chic. The collateral damage to working stiffs barely scraping by? Never mind.

Watching "One Battle After Another" may not be entertaining, but its celebration of vitriol and murder is clarifying. This is not the usual "anti-conservative" Hollywood bias. When the perpetually sweaty DiCaprio shouts “¡Viva la revolución!” while detonating bombs, you're meant to cheer. And if you're not cheering, well, those bombs are meant for you.

Increasingly, Hollywood views half the country not as fellow citizens with outdated beliefs, but as enemies who deserve punishment. Owning firearms, favoring borders, voting differently — these aren’t policy differences; they’re treated as moral crimes, grounds for extermination.

Luxury nihilism

The old trick was to sneer at conservatives as rubes or buffoons. Now the fantasy is direct violence. What was once snide mockery has hardened into veneration of the kill shot.

That's not to say that it is an altogether convincing fantasy. The usual ignorance of liberals when it comes to actual, real-world violence — their compulsive need to make revolution "cool" — is on full display. At one point, a bank robbery is staged by an antifa firebrand with a name I won’t print; this is the group's usual method of "fundraising." Anderson seems blissfully unaware that modern bank heists are idiotic — bills are marked, surveillance is everywhere. No one outside a Nicolas Cage movie thinks it’s viable.

And let's face it, none of the laptop warriors celebrating "One Battle After Another" are likely to to take to the streets to firebomb ICE. Then again, they don't have to. While they indulge their adolescent rebellion fantasies in front of an IMAX screen, their luxury nihilism trickles down to the truly unhinged and desperate, some of whom are perfectly willing to try to change minds with a bullet. Which means the fight may be coming to you, whether you sit out this "Battle" or not. Buy ammo.