George Clooney calls Donald Trump and Steve Bannon 'Hollywood elites'

Actor George Clooney has branded Donald Trump and his strategist Steve Bannon "Hollywood elitists".

Defending comments made by fellow actor Meryl Streep at the Golden Globe Awards in January, Clooney said Streep was no more a member of the elite than Trump and his adviser Steve Bannon.

In comments he made to the French network Canal+, Democrat supporter Clooney said: "When Meryl spoke, everyone on that one side said, 'Well, that's elitist Hollywood speaking.' Donald Trump has 22 acting credits in television.

Trump, he added, "collects $120,000 a year from his Screen Actors Guild pension fund. He is a Hollywood elitist."

Following Streep's speech, which received wide applause at the awards ceremony, Trump hit out at the actor on social media, describing her as "overrated".

He wrote: "Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes.

"She is a Hillary flunky who lost big.

"For the 100th time, I never 'mocked' a disabled reporter (would never do that) but simply showed him 'groveling' when he totally changed a 16 year old story that he had written in order to make me look bad. Just more very dishonest media!"

Clooney added: "Steve Bannon is a failed film writer and director. That's the truth, that's what he's done.

"He wrote a Shakespearean rap musical about the LA riots that he couldn't get made. He made a lot of money off of Seinfeld. He's elitist Hollywood. That's the reality."