George Clooney has had to explain himself after being quoted with some not-so-nice words for two of Hollywood's leading men: Russell Crowe and Leonardo Dicaprio. The hunky actor became a talking point earlier this week after apparently bad mouthing Leo and his entourage, as well as reliving the feud started between himself and Crowe - sparked by Crowe in 2005 - and revealing that there is still bad blood between them.

George Clooney
George's comments were taken out of context

In the interview for Esquire magazine, the 52-year-old actor recalled playing a basketball game against Leo, and complained particularly about the way in which his friends behaved before and during it. After finding himself on the winning side of an 11-0 drubbing, Clooney told the glossy, “And the discrepancy between their game and how they talked about their game made me think of how important it is to have someone in your life to tell you what’s what. I’m not sure Leo has someone like that."

Clooney's publicist has since had to explain this quote and go in to detail over the playfulness of the interview, explaining that everything George said about Leo was in jest at the time. The Oscar-winner's PR had this to say about the matter (via E! News): "The Leo comments were all made in fun about basketball, not about Leo's life. The writer and George were laughing about basketball buddies."

Russell CroweLeonardo DiCaprio
George wasn't as apologetic to Crowe as he was DiCaprio

As for the Russell Crowe comments, well his explanation for them was a little more blunt and a little less apologetic. George recalled the time in 2005 when Crowe took aim at him, "Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro," labelling them all "sellouts."

He went into detail about how Crowe tried to win back Clooney's favour, only for him to throw the attempt at reconciliation back in his face. When his publicist came to further explain the comments, they only had this today: "As for the Russell Crowe story. George was asked about it and told the truth."

George's full interview apears in the December issue of Esquire.

George Clooney BAFTA-LAs
The actor was speaking with Esquire