George Clooney to Filipinos: Guilt people who do business with bad guys

MANILA, Philippines – Hollywood actor and humanitarian activist George Clooney told Filipinos that an efficient way to holding bad people accountable is to “guilt the hell out of the people that do business with them.”

“You cannot guilt bad guys into doing the right thing. They don’t care…. But you can guilt the hell out of the people that do business with them,” Clooney said at Rappler’s Social Good Summit 2025 on Sunday, November 16.

George and his wife, international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, are in the country to headline the summit.

They co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), whose latest work is using artificial intelligence (AI) to ease access to legal aid for vulnerable communities. Amal Clooney announced that the CFJ is bringing the initiative to the Philippines next year.

George discussed his work in another organization, The Sentry, an investigative firm that aims to expose, and then dismantle, repressive networks by, quite literally, following the money.

George recalled how their boycott campaigns against the businesses of the Sultan of Brunei influenced the ultimate reversal of a policy that would have executed gay people.

“Some of these knuckleheads, you know, they’re supposed to be making $75,000 a year. And they’re on Instagram with pictures of their money on a private jet,” George said of the warlords they were investigating, eliciting a reaction from the SGS audience.

There has been growing discontent in the Philippines over government officials amid massive corruption allegations, with Filipino politicians and their family exposed for flaunting their wealth.

“We were going to all these businesses behind the scenes and talking to them going, ‘You’re next,’ and those are the businesses who want to put on a tuxedo and come here to an event, and be treated well, and have a nice cocktail, and those people you can get guilt the hell out of. So they go to him and say we can’t have these policies,” George said.

‘Get used to failing’

Relating their situation in the US, George advised Filipinos to “get used to failing.”

He was answering a question about how Filipinos can move forward if some have lost hope.

“History does not move in a straight line. We thought, oh my God, we’ve got our first black president in the United States. Things are moving, man. And then we bring in Donald Trump. So the world, that’s how it is,” he said.

“Even when it feels terrible right now — there are more dictatorships right now than in a long time — we’re going to get through these things. And the truth of the matter is, what are you supposed to do? Are you going to not keep rolling that ball up the hill?” he said.

“You’re gonna fail, and if it’s not you, somebody else behind you is gonna keep pushing that ball, and somewhere along the way you’re going to succeed. Get used to failing; that’s okay. Because every once in a while, you know, you get to look around and see somebody move that ball all the way up,” he added. – Rappler.com