The way Don Cheadle tells it, he was called out by Condoleezza Rice for criticizing President Bush. Here’s the way the story goes. At the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, Cheadle was speaking at a seminar following the screening of a documentary, “Darfur Now,” which chronicles his and five other people’s activism to try to end the genocide and suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Cheadle was asked by an audience member why, if U.S. citizens like himself seemed to be so involved in activism, didn’t the U.S. government do more to end the suffering. The question sparked much talk about writing congressmen and other politicians, and Cheadle told the audience that indeed he’d been asked to meet with U.S. Secretay of State Condoleezza Rice and talk about the subject. He, of course, went.

At the meeting, according to Cheadle, he and Rice discussed problems in the region, but toward the end Rice admonished him and other celebrity activists for criticizing the U.S. president. She told him the Bush administration was active and informed in the region, and that he ought to know that.

“She basically called me out and told me to back off,” Cheadle said. He then sat up in his chair, stiffened his back and put an authoritative inflection in his voice, “I wanted to say: ‘you know what, Condi’,” and he paused while the audience laughed. “But my mom always said, ‘pick your battles.’”

Cheadle was polite, but he did add that he was not going to stop speaking out about Darfur. “Unless my career goes in the tank, I’m going to be vocal about it,” he said.