Actor George Clooney would like to get big money out of politics — so he doesn’t have to raise it.
Clooney hosted two weekend fundraisers in California on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Donations for attendees at an event in San Francisco topped out at $353,000 per couple, which Clooney acknowledges is an “obscene amount of money.”
The event even drew pro-Bernie Sanders demonstrators, Clooney recounted in an interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” When he went to talk with them, he said, they called him a corporate shill.
“That’s one of the funnier things you could say about me,” the Oscar-winner said, though he conceded that some of the protesters had a valid point regarding a different matter.
“Their T-shirts said, you know, ‘You sucked as Batman,’” said Clooney, the star of 1997’s “Batman & Robin,” one of the least memorable films in the superhero franchise. “And I was like, ‘Well, you kind of got me on that one.’”
Royalty at Taj Mahal
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge invoked nostalgia Saturday as they sat and smiled for photos on the same marble bench in front of the Taj Mahal where Prince William’s late mother, Princess Diana, had posed alone for a memorable 1992 photo.
Winding down their weeklong royal tour of India and Bhutan, William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, were briefed by a guide as they entered the compound that houses the iconic monument to love.
Ahead of the British royals’ visit to the Taj Mahal, about a dozen armed policemen entered the complex and the left section was cordoned off. Ordinary tourists were allowed to enter the building from the right. The royal couple caused a great deal of excitement, with dozens of people taking pictures on their cellphones.
William and Kate’s visit was filled with symbolism. Comparisons will inevitably be made to Diana and the lonely figure she cut 24 years ago in front of the white marble mausoleum built by a Mughal emperor to entomb his beloved wife.
Quick take
The Walt Disney Co.’s “The Jungle Book” opened with $103.6 million in North America, making it one of the biggest April debuts ever at the box office and continuing the studio’s streak of unearthing live-action riches buried in its animated classics.
Happy birthday
Actress Chloe Bennet (“Agents of Shield”) is 24. … Actress Alia Shawkat (“Arrested Development”) is 27. … Actress America Ferrera (“Ugly Betty”) is 32. … TV personality Kourtney Kardashian is 37. … Actress Mary Birdsong (“Reno 911!”) is 48. … Talk-show host Conan O’Brien is 53. … Actor Eric Roberts is 60.
BatmanBernie SandersBhutanGeorge ClooneyHillary ClintonIndiaKate MiddletonPrince WilliamTaj MahalThe Jungle Book
