Much to the disappointment of bromantic interest Brad Pitt and millions of viewers, there was at least one dapper dude whose absence at the Academy Awards was felt—George Clooney.
The former ER doc had a good excuse though. He was gearing up for a little QT at the White House with President Barack Obama on Monday.
And, instead of debating whether Mickey Rourke or Sean Penn was the rightful Best Actor, Clooney, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden discussed the situation in Darfur.
"I actually met with the president in the Oval Office for about 15 minutes and then I met with the vice president," the actor-activist said via satellite on Larry King Live later that evening. "Basically, we were just talking about coming back from Chad and right on the border of Darfur. And we were talking about there's a moment coming up relatively soon—probably by the middle of next week—where the International Criminal Court is going to indict the president of Sudan for war crimes, which has never happened before—a sitting president."
Clooney, a messenger of peace for the United Nations, expressed the priorities and ways he felt the American leaders could bring peace to the struggling area.
"Diplomacy has to start and it has to be aggressive and it has to start soon. We have an opportunity here."