People Exclusive
George Clooney at the Gravity premiere and opening of the 70th Venice Film Festival on August 28, 2013
Action Press/StarTraks
The actor, who got into a heated argument with Steve Wynn in Las Vegas last month, has released a statement to PEOPLE responding to the casino mogul's latest comments to Bloomberg news this week.
The war of words dates back to April 23, when Wynn allegedly called President Obama an "a------" at a group dinner attended by Clooney. It was amped up Friday when Wynn, among other things, denied doing so and then ripped stars like Clooney as "molly coddled" and suggested Clooney had been drinking too much at the dinner.
Here's Clooney's detailed response:
"Steve Wynn and I have met three times, two times for dinner. That is the extent of our knowledge of one another, so I will refrain from trying to categorize him based on the little time we've spent together, but I will not let his version of the truth go unchallenged.
"He now says he didn't call the president an 'a------.' That is false. He bellowed 'I voted for the a------,' and then called him the same thing several more times as the dinner came to an abrupt end."
"Again there were eight people at the table, eight witnesses. I did in turn, call him the same body part, and walked out. Again he can make up whatever story he wants, but these are the facts. He said I drank 16 shots of tequila. I didn't drink one shot of tequila, not one. We were drinking but it was early and we still had two events to attend."
"He said I live in a bubble. More of a bubble than Las Vegas? Honestly? He says I'm 'molly coddled,' that I'm surrounded by people who coddle me. I would suggest that Mr. Wynn look to his left and right and find anyone in his sphere that says anything but 'yes' to him. Emphatically. I did not attend a private boys' school, I worked in tobacco fields and in stock rooms, and construction sites. I've been broke more of my life than I have been successful, and I understand the meaning of being an employee and how difficult it is to make ends meet.
"Steve is one of the richest men in the world and he should be congratulated for it, but he needs to take off his red sparkly dinner jacket and roll up his sleeves every once in a while and understand what most of the country is actually dealing with ... or at least start with the fact that you can't make up stories when eight people who are not on your payroll are sitting around you as witnesses."
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