Hollywood appears to be heading for the hills over President Biden’s reelection bid, and political experts say the loss of celebrity support could put a blockbuster-sized dent in his campaign.
George Clooney sent shockwaves from Washington to the West Coast on Wednesday, when he released a New York Times essay announcing he was doing an about-face on Biden. The “Descendants” actor, who last month helped the Biden campaign haul in $30 million at a star-studded Los Angeles fundraiser, wrote that Democrats are “not going to win in November with this president.”
The Academy Award winner, one of Hollywood’s biggest Democratic supporters, said that the Biden he encountered at the glitzy event just weeks ago was “not the Joe ‘big F-ing deal’ Biden of 2010. He wasn’t even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate.”
Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump last month in Atlanta triggered a tidal wave of criticism and renewed concerned about the 81-year-old president’s age and acuity. As of Thursday evening, 16 House Democrats and one Democratic senator had called on Biden to exit the White House race.
“It’s like the Titanic hit the iceberg,” Brad Bannon, a Democratic pollster and strategist said of the effect of Clooney’s move on Biden’s campaign.
Kathryn Cramer Brownell, a Purdue University history professor and author of “Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life,” told ITK that “historically, there have been celebrities that have mobilized against another candidate, they have mobilized on perhaps a certain issue, but I haven’t seen a celebrity call on a president to drop out of a race before.”
Other famous entertainment industry figures, including prominent Democrats, are also urging Biden to withdraw.
“When Harry Met Sally” director Rob Reiner wrote on social media just days before Clooney’s essay, “It’s time to stop f—ing around. If the Convicted Felon wins, we lose our Democracy,” Reiner said, referring to former President Trump.
“Joe Biden has effectively served US with honor, decency, and dignity. It’s time for Joe Biden to step down,” he added.
Reiner, a fierce Trump critic, later expressed support for Clooney’s New York Times piece, saying, “We need someone younger to fight back. Joe Biden must step aside.”
Michael Douglas, who hosted a fundraiser for Biden earlier this year, said in an interview shortly after Clooney’s editorial was published that the “Ocean’s Eleven” star had “a valid point.”
“It’s such a tough one. I adore the guy. Fifty years of public service — a wonderful guy. This just happens to be one of these elections that is just so crucial,” Douglas said on ABC’s “The View.”
“I’m deeply, deeply concerned,” the “Wall Street” star added.
Beyond generating headlines, A-listers in left-leaning Hollywood pulling their support can pack a punch to a campaign’s coffers.
“Not only does Clooney have star power, he has financial power,” Bannon said.
“That’s one of the reasons why Clooney’s op-ed was seismic, because he represents star power and money — and in the world of politics, that’s a potent combination,” the Bannon Communications Research CEO added.
“Hollywood does have fundraising power. This is something that has long been central to the relationship between Hollywood and Democrats — going back to the really the 1930s and especially in the 1960s — is that Hollywood has played a key role to delivering money and to staging some of these fundraisers,” Brownell said.
Clooney, she said, is now “using that fundraising power to push for certain changes within the party itself.”
“Normally Hollywood celebrities help to raise money for the party, and they advocate for the party. They haven’t previously pushed for changes in who the candidate would be,” the author continued.
“Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof explicitly pointed to the power of the purse in his own call for Biden to drop out last week, comparing the president to a pitcher in desperate need of relief from the bullpen and saying Democrats should withhold their donations until he withdraws.
“But I’m ready to hear the walkout song for our closer,” Lindelof wrote in an editorial for Deadline. “And once I do, I’m going to double the size of the checks … I’m going to write so many damn checks my hand will cramp.”
The Biden campaign didn’t return ITK’s request for comment, but following Clooney’s essay a campaign official had pointed to the president’s prior remarks vowing to continue his reelection bid.
Biden has repeatedly said he’s not going anywhere.
“I’m the sitting President of the United States. I’m the nominee of the Democratic party. I’m staying in the race,” he said on X.
He told George Stephanopoulos in an ABC interview last week, “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race.”
But, Biden noted, “The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”
Clooney’s editorial, Brownell said, might not move the dial at the ballot box, but it does shine the spotlight on the age issue and Biden’s viability as a candidate. In his essay, Clooney wrote that “the one battle [Biden] cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can.”
“It’s not so much that celebrities sway voters and change voters’ minds, but I think that one of the ways that you see celebrities have an influence is by perpetuating certain stories and drawing attention to certain stories. So this certainly draws attention and expands this conversation about whether or not Biden should be the Democratic nominee,” Brownell said.
And Bannon predicted Clooney’s words will spell more trouble for Biden’s campaign — and could even prevent the commander in chief from achieving a Hollywood ending come November.
“My guess is you’re going to see several other Hollywood stars and important donors bail on the president too,” Bannon said.
“I think basically Clooney’s op-ed was a signal to the Hollywood and donor community that he’s had enough.”