George Clooney, Nobel Prize Winner? LGBTQ Supporters Launch Campaign

George Clooney has helped rescue Syrian refugees, campaigned to stop genocide in Sudan and used his star power to elicit aid for Haiti and New Orleans. But if he ever ends up winning the Nobel Peace Prize, it may be because of his editorials.

A group of LGBTQ supporters and allies, inspired by Clooney’s op-ed pieces supporting the boycott of the Beverly Hills Hotel over its repressive owners, is launching a write-in campaign to convince Sweden to give the 58-year-old actor the one award bigger than Oscar. Clooney spoke out against the Sultan of Brunei (owner of the Dorchester Collection hotel group, which manages the industry-favored Beverly Hills Hotel) in a series of pieces (on Deadline) about barbaric Sharia law in that country that targeted gays and lesbians. There had been a widespread Hollywood boycott of the hotel in 2014 when news of the proposed laws first spread, but it fizzled after several years only to pick back up once the laws were set to go into effect in the spring. 

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Though the informal group — none of whom have any personal ties to Clooney or his human rights lawyer wife, Amal — counts less than a dozen individuals, they’re hoping to get the word out and eventually snag the attention of the Nobel committee by asking supporters to send emails to postmaster@nobel.no. A source close to the group says one member received communication from the Nobel Institute that contained a rundown of what the nominating criteria are for securing a bid for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Rambling Reporter caught up with one member of the group, real estate and interior design independent contractor Sandy Travers, who says, “We ask this be done in the name of personal freedom; free from brutal prosecution, free from discrimination of any sort; but most of all in the name of hope, as we very much feel that hope is a quality rather lacking in the world these days. Hope for common decency and respect for anybody that simply wants to live a life of freedom to be who they are, with whatever dreams are in their hearts.”

Rambling Reporter heard back from a Nobel rep who said the deadline for 2020 prizes is Jan. 31, and that “a campaign does definitely not strengthen the candidature/nomination either for one individual or for an organization. If the campaigners do not fulfill the nomination criteria, the nomination will be invalid — and of course, not taken into consideration.”

The rep said consideration is given to people nominated by, for instance, former Nobel Peace Prize winners, members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy, theology or religion. The rep also added that they prefer individuals use the online form at nobelpeaceprize.org. 

A version of this story first appeared in the June 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.