So far, Hollywood has remained silent, at least in public. It has yet to begin to stop donating amid calls for the President to Joe Biden to make way for another Democratic candidate to replace him in the 2024 campaign. But the patience of his supporters in the entertainment industry is wearing thin. Some say the concern they are feeling privately now could turn into outright panic and lead to more public measures if they don’t see a change in the next two weeks.
Alarm bells were raised after Biden, 81,’s performance in last Thursday’s presidential debate with Donald Trump has saturated the ranks of actors, filmmakers, executives and other wealthy allies in Hollywood. Leaders in this politically active segment of the industry are trying to maintain calm, as Andy Spahn, LA-based political consultant Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg, and other show business moguls who helped raise more than 20 million dollars for Biden’s 2020 campaign. He declined an interview about the current turmoil, but did offer Vanity Fair This quote: “Everyone just needs to breathe.”
Democratic-leaning politicians in the entertainment industry are largely following that guidance, though their breathing now seems closer to hyperventilation.
On Saturday, two days after the controversy, about 200 entertainment industry celebrities gathered for a fundraising party at the home of entertainment lawyer Ken Ziffren, The longtime Los Angeles film mogul is responsible for boosting production in the city. The focus of the event was not the presidential campaign, but a field of Democrats vying for highly contested U.S. Senate seats. Still, Biden’s performance dominated the conversation, at least offstage.
Performer Joseph Gordon-Levitt chaired the on-stage discussion, with the participation of Vice President Kamala Harrishusband of, Doug Emhoff; the senators are sitting Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Bob Casey Jr. Pennsylvania, who are up for re-election in November; and congressional representatives Ruben Gallego of Arizona, Colin Allred of Texas and California Adam Schiff (on his home turf), all hoping to make the leap from the House to the Senate. There was no mention in their conversation of Biden’s dismal debate performance or the possibility of his resignation, but outside the audience, it was an inevitable topic of conversation.
Among these power brokers, it was a rare moment of helplessness. “What I’m hearing from my ears is that the notion of Biden stepping down is not gone and is very likely to happen. Donors are very concerned, but it seems like there’s a strategic effort to allow Biden to make that decision gracefully,” said one donor who attended Saturday, a self-described moderate whose Democratic loyalty has been fueled by his disgust with Trump.
The donor added that the consensus in Hollywood is that pressing Biden in public will only make him dig in deeper: “All of that is strategic in terms of letting Joe save face because he’s very stubborn. And he’s also known, to his credit, for getting up when he’s on the carpet. He took Trump down. It seems like there’s this balance between letting things sink in, finding out if he’s still To be The best person to beat Trump, or is it really that bad?”
Needing reassurance, Hollywood is looking for a stronger showing. If the campaign scene is to be believed—that Biden has only one bad night, as a former president Barack Obama wrote on X—then the president had about two weeks to prove it before facing a revolt from his potential supporters. “He held that rally in North Carolina the next day and by all accounts it was very powerful,” the donor recounted. Vanity Fair. “There must be thousands of things like that, because [51 million] “Everybody or more people should be involved in that debate. He should be out there every day. He should be trying to flood the field, either with interviews or press conferences from the White House. Just holding a rally the next day to stop the bleeding is not going to do what is necessary to keep him on the list.”
Biden’s most prominent supporters have remained loyal to Biden. On Friday morning, as panic over the debate reached its peak, the campaign sent a mass email to small donors addressed “From: Robert De Niro,” who rarely misses an opportunity to criticize Trump. “For years, I’ve played evil, despicable characters. I’ve spent a lot of time studying bad guys,” the Oscar winner wrote.Donald Trump is a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics, who will do anything to gain power. As an actor, I could never play him. There is no humanity to cling to.” De Niro did not mention the debate, but added, along with a $25 donation request to the campaign, “I strongly support Joe Biden…. I have every confidence that he can run the country.”
Others have conceded defeat but still support the president. Filmmaker Rob Reiner, one of the most outspoken Democratic voices in Hollywood, said on X that even a weak Biden is better than a vicious Trump. “Last night’s debate was a disaster for President Biden,” Reiner wrote“But the choice is still very clear: We can choose a decent, good man who cares about his fellow citizens and knows how to govern, or a convicted criminal who will destroy our democracy. It’s not a hard choice.” The night of the debate, CNN reported. witness details from a viewing party in Los Angeles, wrote, “in a few responses, Rob Reiner yelled about losing and Jane Fonda shed tears.”
In his HBO Max series Real time, Bill Maher struck a similar note—albeit much more bluntly. “I’ve said before, I’m going to vote for his head in a blue jar. And after last night, it’s time to get that jar,” he said. He noted that he suggested more than a year ago that Biden should not run for reelection, and in a Commentary in The New York Times, Maher said an open convention to replace him could be a blessing in disguise. “Suddenly, instead of rehashing the debate from hell—the worst of Golden Bachelor ever—they would hold a contest, something Americans love,” he wrote. “This may seem like I’m making a little of this up here, but I’m serious that this would be good for the Democrats and give them a better chance of winning.”
Maher said his pick would be governor of California. Gavin Newsom, who appeared on TV after the debate to shore up support for Biden. “Watching him make the case against Trump in interviews before the debate and defend Biden after the debate reminded me: This guy is good at this,” Maher wrote. “He is forceful, never lost for words or statistics, never stumbled, never intimidated. He cannot be bullied, and that is important to Trump.”
