Crowe continues feud with Clooney over commercial endorsements

Crowe was arrested yesterday and charged with assault, which carries a sentence of up to four years in jail, after he allegedly threw a telephone at a night porter in New York hotel just after he had returned from the UK.

The Australian actor, known for his physical outbursts, began the feud in February when he said that Clooney, along with Harrison Ford and Robert de Niro, had broken the "social contract" they had with their audiences, by appearing in ads.

Clooney, who has appeared in ads for Martini, Fiat and Toyota, hit back by mocking Crowe's musical venture, the band 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts.

"I'm glad he set us straight. Harrison, Bob and I were putting a band together called Grunting For 30 Feet, and that would also fall under the heading 'bad use of celebrity'. Thanks for the heads up," Cloooney was quoted as saying.

Now Crowe has hit back in The Sun, saying: "I had a good laugh when Clooney tried to compare doing ads for suits, a car and a drink to what I do as a musician.

"An endorsement is about money. My music is from the heart."

He vowed once more that he would never appear in ads.

"I believe if you take on characters for a living you can't make yourself into an icon in order to sell a pair of shoes," he said.

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