George Clooney's Email to Ben Crump During the Chauvin Trial

Originally published 2021-04-28.

In April 2021, while Derek Chauvin was on trial for the death of George Floyd, the Floyd family's lawyer Ben Crump revealed that George Clooney had emailed him with a pointed suggestion. If Chauvin was so sure that kneeling on Floyd's neck was harmless, Clooney wrote, he should offer to lie on the courtroom floor and let someone kneel on his neck for the same 9 minutes and 29 seconds, to see if he survived.

The idea was never a real legal proposal and nothing like it happened in court. It was a blunt way of making a point about the length of the restraint, and it spread quickly online. Here is what was said, when, how it fits into the trial and what happened to Chauvin afterwards.

What Clooney wrote and how it became public

Crump described the email during a remote appearance on ABC's The View on Wednesday, 7 April 2021, while talking with co-host Joy Behar. The trial was in its second week, so the story broke while witnesses were still testifying, not after the verdict as some later posts claimed.

Crump said the actor was closely following the case and had urged him to tell the court that, if Chauvin felt confident in his defence, "he should volunteer during his case to get down on the floor in that courtroom" and let someone kneel on him for the full time. A representative for Clooney confirmed to Entertainment Tonight that he had sent the email.

Crump was not one of the prosecutors. The case was brought by the State of Minnesota, led by Attorney General Keith Ellison's office; Crump represented Floyd's family, who also pursued a separate civil case against the city.

One wonders why the gov is bothering to have a trial at all. It's apparently so clear that Chauvin is guilty of murder that anything short of life w/o parole will lead to
a nationwide "uprising"? "George Clooney gets involved in George Floyd murder trial" https://t.co/PuWOSgELZm

— Ed Franks (@edfranks) April 15, 2021

Why the 9 minutes and 29 seconds mattered

The figure in Clooney's email came from the prosecution's timeline. On 25 May 2020, Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for about nine minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd lay handcuffed and face down on a Minneapolis street. Earlier reports had spoken of "8 minutes 46 seconds", but video analysis presented at trial put the total longer.

On The View, Crump argued that the length of time was itself the evidence. He told viewers that experts would say most people can go only seconds without oxygen, while Floyd was pinned for several minutes, and that this showed the restraint could not be excused as an accident. The jury later heard detailed medical testimony along those lines.

The medical arguments in court

The central question at trial was what killed George Floyd. Prosecution witnesses, including pulmonologist Dr. Martin Tobin, testified that Floyd died from a lack of oxygen caused by the way he was held: pressed against the pavement, with weight on his neck and back, which led to brain damage and cardiac arrest. Tobin told jurors that the drugs in Floyd's system did not explain his breathing pattern in the videos.

The defence called former Maryland chief medical examiner Dr. David Fowler, who argued that Floyd had a sudden heart rhythm problem linked to heart disease, with fentanyl, methamphetamine and possibly carbon monoxide from a police car exhaust contributing. The jury rejected that account.

'See If He Can Survive:' George Clooney Purportedly Offered Brutal Opinion About Derek Chauvin's Defense https://t.co/nWw7a0aqmE

— Sharon Johnson (@iamtriedoftryin) April 20, 2021

The verdict and sentence

After about ten hours of deliberation, the jury returned its verdict on 20 April 2021. Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts: unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Headlines at the time often quoted a possible 75 years, which simply added up the maximum for each charge. That was never a realistic figure, because Minnesota sentences on the most serious count. The top charge carried up to 40 years, and the state's guidelines suggested 12.5 years for someone with no criminal record.

On 25 June 2021, Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22.5 years, ten years above the guideline, after finding that he had abused his position of trust and treated Floyd with particular cruelty. Under Minnesota law, about two-thirds of such a sentence is usually served in prison, with the rest on supervised release.

(The video originally embedded here is no longer available on YouTube.)

Appeals and what came after

Chauvin's attempts to overturn the conviction failed. The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld it on 17 April 2023, the Minnesota Supreme Court declined to review the case that July, and the US Supreme Court turned down his petition on 20 November 2023. Separately, he pleaded guilty to federal civil rights charges and received a federal sentence that he serves alongside the state one.

Floyd's death led to protests across the United States and around the world in 2020, and to debates about police use of force, neck restraints and accountability that continue today.

Clooney's wider comments on racism

The email was not the first time Clooney had spoken about the case. In June 2020, during the protests that followed Floyd's death, he wrote an essay for The Daily Beast describing racism as America's own pandemic. "It infects all of us, and in 400 years we've yet to find a vaccine," he wrote, linking current events to the country's history of slavery.

Reactions to his trial suggestion were divided. Supporters saw it as a vivid way of showing how long nine and a half minutes really is. Critics, including some on social media, argued that celebrities should stay out of a live criminal trial, and that public pressure risked making the process look predetermined. Both points help explain why the courtroom relied on video evidence and medical experts rather than dramatic demonstrations.

Key facts at a glance

• When: Crump shared the email on The View on 7 April 2021, during the trial.
• Who confirmed it: Clooney's representative told Entertainment Tonight that he sent it.
• Restraint time: about 9 minutes 29 seconds, as presented at trial.
• Verdict: guilty on all three counts on 20 April 2021.
• Sentence: 22.5 years, handed down on 25 June 2021; appeals rejected through November 2023.

Sources: Entertainment Tonight, April 2021: George Clooney emails George Floyd's family lawyer; Wikipedia: Trial of Derek Chauvin. Embedded posts belong to their authors on X (Twitter).