When in doubt about anything in life, always follow the money. It's the reason we do most things in life, but in politics, it is life. Without major donors, a politician is just someone out there making speeches. Just ask Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who has lost two of his major donors in the last few months as he attempts to win the Republican presidential nomination.
But for a Democratic candidate, the usually reliable money that comes in from Hollywood has suddenly dried up. With the SAG-AFTRA strike and the Writers Guild of America still on strike, it would not look good for a politician to head out to California looking for donations. But with Presidential and Congressional elections in 13 months, the money train must keep rolling. Fortunately for President Joe Biden, he found a friend in Hollywood with deep pockets.
The Wrap reports that the former Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg, has donated more than $2.8 million to Biden's re-election campaign, the Biden Victory Fund, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
United Talent Agency vice chairman Jay Sures, a longtime Hollywood political fundraiser, told TheWrap:
Jeffrey is not on board one-hundred percent. He’s on board five-thousand percent. He’s stepping up because he believes so strongly in the cause. And he believes that Joe Biden’s record should speak for itself.
Katzenberg has long been a supporter of Democratic politics. He was one of the first major contributors to a relatively unknown senator's Presidential Campaign in 2007, Barack Obama. According to Federal Election Commission filings, Katzenberg has given to 1,776 Democratic candidates since 1979, when he made his first contribution to Senator Ted Kennedy's Presidential Campaign.
Katzenberg is a top donor to President Biden and the Democratic National Committee. Despite not being a primary yet, President Biden is expected to be the nominee of the Democratic Party. At the same time, former president Donald Trump leads a pack of Republicans for their nomination.
Who is Jeffrey Katzenberg
When Michael Eisner was named CEO, Katzenberg started his career at Disney in 1984. Katzenberg took over as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios. Disney was last in box office revenues among the major studios at the time.
He is widely credited with turning around both Disney Studios and Disney Animation, which was floundering then. Through Disney-owned Touchtone Pictures, Katzenberg helped usher in films like Dead Poets Society, Good Morning Vietnam, and Pretty Woman and produced television shows like The Golden Girls and Home Improvement.
After a disappointing start to his tenure with the release of The Black Cauldron (1985), Katzenberg got Disney Animation back on top with The Little Mermaid (1989), which helped usher in the second golden age of Disney Animation.
He left Disney in 1993 after an internal company struggle with Roy Disney, who thought Katzenberg was receiving too much credit for the company's success. He would go on to found DreamWorks, challenging Disney's animation domination with films like Shrek (2001).
He has also been politically active and is now one of Biden's allies with very deep pockets.
We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.
