Several major Hollywood donors for President Joe Biden have been sent into panic mode after President Joe Biden’s poor performance at Thursday night’s presidential debate.
Anonymous Hollywood donors told Variety that they had received messages and feedback from donors in the media and entertainment industry who were panicked by what they saw from Biden during the debate. Donors reportedly called for Biden to “drop out” or they would not be “giving any more money” to the Democrat Party.
During the presidential debate, Biden appeared to freeze. Biden also spoke with a hoarse voice and mumbled.
The president was also unable to get through his closing statement without making a lot of errors.
“With all the text chains I’m on, people are basically like, ‘If he doesn’t drop out, we’re not giving any more money to Democrats or the Democratic Party,’” an anonymous Hollywood donor told the outlet. “It’s like super intense.”
Another anonymous Hollywood donor told the outlet that there was “a sense that the money dried up last night about 10 minutes into the debate.”
While several Democrat officials and media members also panicked after seeing Biden’s debate performance against former President Donald Trump and called for Biden to be replaced, the Biden campaign has maintained that the president will not be dropping out of the presidential race.
Biden Campaign Co-Chair Mitch Landrieu told NBC News that Biden “had a cold” and had “looked a little sluggish,” but added that he was okay with people judging Biden’s fitness based on the debate.
The outlet notes that other donors in Hollywood have admitted that Biden’s debate performance was “concerning” but have vowed to support him.
Other more high-profile donors for the Democrat Party, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Haim Saban have reportedly decided to wait before making a decision:
But in Hollywood, all eyes are on Jeffrey Katzenberg, the town’s most active Democratic fundraiser, who organized the recent fete that brought Biden and former President Barack Obama to L.A. and drew the likes of George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jimmy Kimmel and Jack Black. Sources close to Katzenberg say he is taking a wait-and-see approach to how Biden’s debate performance plays out in the coming days. The same is true for media mogul Haim Saban, traditionally one of the Democratic Party’s most prolific donors. Saban has kept a low profile after someone, presumaby within the White House, leaked an email he sent to two Biden aides criticizing the president’s move to withhold some military support to Israel. Both Katzenberg and Saban declined to comment.
Prior to the star-studded fundraiser with George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Jimmy Kimmel, the Biden campaign had announced that it had raised $28 million.
Several top donors were reported to have backed out of attending Biden’s event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan on Friday.
