Several big Hollywood donors to President Joe Biden are panicking after his lackluster performance in Thursday night’s presidential debate.
Anonymous Hollywood donor said variety Biden’s behavior during the debate reportedly sparked messages and feedback from donors in the media and entertainment industries who panicked, reportedly demanding that Biden “drop out” or they would “no longer give any more money” to the Democratic Party.
Biden appeared frozen during the presidential debate and spoke in a husky, mumbling voice.
The president also couldn’t get through his closing statement without making a number of mistakes.
“In the email conversations that I’m a part of, everyone is basically like, ‘If he doesn’t back down, we’re not giving any more money to the Democrats or the Democratic Party,'” an anonymous Hollywood donor told the outlet. “It’s very tense.”
“My impression was that the funding dried up about 10 minutes into last night’s debate,” another anonymous Hollywood donor told the outlet.
The outlet noted that other Hollywood donors have also pledged to support Biden, despite acknowledging his debate performance was “concerning.”
Other prominent Democratic donors, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Chaim Saban, are reportedly choosing to wait before making any decisions.
But in Hollywood, all eyes are on Jeffrey Katzenberg, the city’s most active Democratic fundraiser. He organized the recent festival, which brought Biden and former President Barack Obama to Los Angeles and featured George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jimmy Kimmel and Jack Black. Sources close to Katzenberg say he is waiting to see how Biden performs in the debates over the next few days. Ditto for media mogul Haim Saban, traditionally one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors. Saban has kept a low profile since an email he sent to two Biden aides criticizing the withholding of some military aid to Israel was leaked, presumably by someone in the White House. Both Katzenberg and Saban declined to comment.
