George Clooney Fears Fighting Paparazzi Will Create Freedom Issues  10/11/05

Movie star George Clooney is happy to ignore the over-zealous efforts of the paparazzi who follow him everywhere because he fears that by limiting their powers he'll upset freedom of speech.

While stars like Reese Witherspoon and Cameron Diaz rally to change laws and fight against celebrity photographers, Clooney, whose father is respected newsman Nick Clooney, fears stars could be setting a bad precedent if they continue fighting the paparazzi.

He explains, "These guys can be real jerks, these paparazzi, they're not trying to catch me doing something stupid, which I'll have to take hits for - they're trying to create you doing something stupid. They walk through the airport and go, 'Whose that fat chick you're with?'

"I'll take all of those hits in lieu of trying to restrict it, because the dangers of restricting it, or getting into those dangers, (is) like burning the first book.

"I get that they do some rotten things... It's a drag for me... (But) as a guy who believes in the free press, I think that some of these hits we have to take in order to not mess with freedom of speech."