George Clooney Isn’t Done Channeling Edward R. Murrow Just Yet

As the multi-hyphenate accepted this year’s Chaplin Gala Award at Film at Lincoln Center on Monday evening, he offered his gracious thanks — and reflected on the state of the world through his own “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

George Clooney may have ended his run on Broadway as iconic journalist Edward R. Murrow last year, but the actor, filmmaker, producer, philanthropist, humanitarian, and yes, the son of another journalist hasn’t quite shaken the man just yet.

On Monday evening in Manhattan, Clooney was celebrated with Film at Lincoln Center’s 51st Chaplin Award during a starry gala at Alice Tully Hall. In accepting the honor, which “recognizes an individual’s significant contributions to the art of cinema,” an emotional Clooney dedicated the final moments of his speech to the current state of the world, through Murrow’s own lens and words.

After jovial stories and thank-yous to a packed house, Clooney turned his attention to this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and much more.

“I can’t be here on a night like tonight and just ignore everything that’s going on in the world and in our homes,” an emotional Clooney said from the stage. “I disagree with everything that this administration stands for, but there’s no place for the kind of violence we saw two nights ago in Washington, D.C. Nor is there a room for this kind of violence in Minnesota with Alex Pretti or Renée Good, or all around this country.”

Clooney then noted that, this time last year, he was on Broadway with his stage adaptation of his film “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which dramatized Murrow’s conflict with Senator Joseph McCarthy over his ongoing communist witch hunt in the 1950s. “His words were important in 1954; they mattered,” he said of Murrow. “They seemed relevant last year. They seem urgent now.”

Clooney then paraphrased part of Murrow’s iconic March 1954 televised editorial about the rise of McCarthyism and McCarthy’s own tactics. “We must not walk in fear, one of another. We must not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men — not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes that are, for the moment, unpopular. … We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home.”

He was greeted with major applause, and soon ended his speech with his own words on the matter. “It seems to me that there is a struggle that has to be won against hatred and corruption and cruelty, violence,” Clooney added. “And it is a struggle for the very soul of this republic because to foment hate and violence is to inherit the wind. And then the question is, simply, we as citizens of this great country, what are we to do? And it is in that answer that all of us — left, right, and center — can build a more perfect union, heal our wounds, and begin to truly make America great again.”

The event honored Clooney as the recipient of the 51st Chaplin Award at the annual Chaplin Award Gala. Over its history, the Chaplin Award has been bestowed upon legendary actors and filmmakers such as Jeff Bridges, Viola Davis, Robert De Niro, Barbara Streisand, Sidney Poitier, Michael Caine, Audrey Hepburn, Robert Altman, Billy Wilder, Elizabeth Taylor, and more. A complete list of past honorees can be found here. 

Clooney’s multi-faceted career was celebrated through a series of highlight reels, video messages (including one from Matt Damon of hilariously questionable technical quality, and one from Clooney’s close friend Richard Kind, who also attended the event in person), and speeches from some of his colleagues and pals.

Cleverly designed to fete each of Clooney’s many vocations, his “ER” co-star Julianna Margulies spoke about his TV career, and John Turturro dove into his film career (including his musings on “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”). His “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” star Sam Rockwell chatted about his directing career, and Stephen Colbert appeared to illuminate Clooney’s many philanthropic endeavors.

Colbert, funnily enough, also referenced Murrow and “Good Night, and Good Luck” in his speech. “It’s the story of the courage and the integrity of CBS News anchor Edward R. Murrow, standing up to fear-mongering propaganda despite intense governmental and corporate pressure,” Colbert said. Two decades later, he added, practically winking, “this inspiring film has now been seen by millions around the world, and hopefully, someday, by CBS.” And, yes, that earned plenty of its own applause, too.