A slate of L.A.’s most powerful entertainment moguls were in attendance at two Hillary Clinton fundraisers hosted by DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg and George Clooney over the weekend.
Billionaire Haim Saban and his wife Cheryl – longtime Clinton donors – were in attendance at both events, as was Steven Spielberg. Some of the guests Clooney entertained at his Studio City home on Saturday night included Twentieth Century Fox Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos, Sony Pictures Chairman Tom Rothman, and CAA super-agent Bryan Lourd.
Sports agent and Los Angeles 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman attended the Saturday afternoon gathering at Katzenberg’s Beverly Hills home along with George Lucas and James Cameron.
Entrance to the fundraising parties cost as high as $353,000. The events, along with a Friday fundraiser in San Francisco also hosted by Clooney, are expected to pull in about $15 million.
However, the events were not without controversy. Bernie Sanders supporters protested in front of Clooney’s home throwing dollar bills at Clinton’s motorcade. Meanwhile, Clooney’s neighbor and 99 Cents Only discount store scion Howard Gold also threw a “99% Party” with admission of $27 – the average donation received by the Sanders campaign.
The criticism prompted Clooney to say on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday that the amount of money being spent on political campaigns is “obscene.” Clooney added that he was supporting Clinton in part because putting another Democrat in the White House could change the composition of the Supreme Court and potentially overturn several decisions that loosened restrictions on political donations.