NationalADAPTWe're detecting a trend here.
Weeks after George Clooney was arrested for protesting outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington D.C, his former ER costar Noah Wyle followed suit as he was taken into custody today at a demonstration on Capitol Hill.
Who's next, Julianna Margulies?
The Capitol Police confirm to E! News that the 40-year-old actor was rounded up along with 76 members of ADAPT—a national grass-roots organization that advocates on behalf of the disabled—after the group initiated acts of civil disobedience by handcuffing themselves in the rotunda of the Cannon House Office Building.
All were charged with unlawful conduct and were still being processed as of press time.
Many of the participants were wheelchair-bound and were protesting cuts to Medicaid spending that could cause the elderly and disabled to leave their residences for nursing homes to get the care they need.
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Updated April 24 @ 1:30 p.m.: A day after his arrest, Wyle released a statement through his publicist explaining his goals.
"Today, I took part in an effort by Adapt to bring attention to the Medicaid cuts that have been made by many States and are threatened to be made on a Federal level," said the actor. "To institutionalize a disabled American costs four times as much than to give assistance for independent living. This issue is about Civil Rights, not about medicine. People who have the ability to live in integrated, affordable and accessible housing should have the right to do so."
He added: "This effort is to end the longstanding bias of the Medicaid system towards institutions and away from community care. The real shame is to see so many productive, intelligent people expending their energy on the fight for basic services to ensure their survival."