Top Hollywood donors threaten to stop giving to Democrats if Biden not replaced as candidate: report

High-profile donors in Hollywood have said they will no longer give money to the Democratic Party if President Biden does not end his re-election bid, Variety reported.

The Story of Friday cited several Hollywood insiders who noted that, following Biden's performance in Thursday's debate, major liberal donors have become disillusioned with the former president and want someone else at the top of the ticket.

“It's really difficult to see how we will continue to support him. He needs to think deeply about whether he can, in good conscience, be our candidate,” Hannah Linkenhoker, an advisor to several of those donors, told the media.

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Democratic Party donors in Hollywood are reportedly saying they will stop donating to the party if Biden is not replaced as presidential candidate. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Hollywood big names have reported that their turnaround on Biden reflects the general shift among Democratic Party supporters and even liberal pundits that has occurred following Biden's much-criticized debate performance against the former President Trump on Thursday.

The debate has caused panic among Democratic strategists and commentators, some of whom are now calling for Biden to be replaced as the Democratic presidential nominee.

An anonymous Hollywood donor told the entertainment site that many people in his network say they will withhold their donations unless Biden is sidelined.

“With all the text message chains I'm on, people are basically saying, 'If he doesn't quit, they're not going to give any more money to Democrats or the Democratic Party.' It's super intense,” he said.

Another industry official, whom Variety described as being “plugged into the highest levels of Hollywood fundraising,” was quoted as saying: “It felt like the money dried up last night about 10 minutes into the debate.”

“We need a champion who can hold Trump accountable, who can be clear about what’s going on and who can be clear on this issue above all else,” Linkenhoker added, before noting that there are serious doubts among his clients that Biden is that guy.

Until recently, Biden enjoyed massive support in Hollywood. In the last quarter of 2023, the president received several six-figure donations to the Biden Victory Fund. Among those donors, industry titan Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw each donated $929,600. Filmmaker JJ Abrams gave Biden $500,000 during the same period.

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President Biden and former President Trump debated Thursday night. (Getty Images)

Celebrities and other Hollywood bigwigs also helped organize and attended a fundraiser for Biden in New York in March, which netted the president's 2024 campaign $25 million in donations in a single night .

Variety reports that “all eyes are on Jeffrey Katzenberg,” the DreamWorks Pictures co-founder and former Disney executive who helped organize the March event, to see what his reaction is to Biden's debate performance.

The outlet said: “Sources close to Katzenberg say he is taking a wait-and-see approach to how Biden's debate performance will evolve in the coming days. »

The same goes for media mogul and major Democratic donor Haim Saban, Variety said, though Saban has disagreed with Biden on other issues in recent weeks, such as criticizing the administration for its policies regarding Israel's war with Hamas.

Biden campaign spokesman Michael Tyler told Variety that there were “no conversations” about replacing Biden, though he acknowledged that the president “didn’t have the best night on the debate stage.”

“But you'd rather have a bad night than a candidate with a bad vision of the direction he wants to take the country,” he added, contrasting Biden with Trump.

The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

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