Actor George Clooney arrives at the White House | AP Photo Clooney hopes Sanders stays in the race

One of Hillary Clinton’s most famous supporters, actor George Clooney, says he hopes Bernie Sanders “stays in for the entire election.”

Clooney, who hosted a big-dollar fundraiser for the former secretary of state Friday, said in an interview aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he likes the Vermont senator, who has been challenging Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.


“I think what he's saying in this election is important if you're a Democrat,” Clooney said, adding he'd do “whatever I can” to help Sanders if he wins the nomination.

Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz "are making this a campaign of fear: We have to be afraid of everything. We have to be afraid of refugees. We have to be afraid of Muslims. We have to be afraid of minorities,” Clooney said.

“The question is — and this is an important one — are we really going to be scared of the very things that have made our country great?” Clooney said. “We are not a country that is afraid and I refuse to accept that.”

Clooney also said he understood the criticism from protesters outside Friday’s event for Clinton, who has long been the Democratic front-runner, saying he shared their distaste for money in politics.

“They're absolutely right,” Clooney said of protesters. “It is an obscene amount of money. The Sanders campaign when they talk about it is absolutely right. It's ridiculous that we should have this kind of money in politics. I agree completely.”