Politics
REPORT: Biden Failed To Recognize George Clooney At Infamous Pre-Election Fundraiser
Former President Joe Biden reportedly failed to recognize A-list Hollywood actor George Clooney at an infamous fundraiser for his re-election campaign last June.
The event, which featured a Jimmy Kimmel-hosted interview with then President Biden and former President Barack Obama, took place a little over a week before then-President Biden’s disastrous debate with current President Donald Trump. The two chief executives were joined by Clooney and other Hollywood stars for a swanky fundraiser at the historic Peacock Theatre in Los Angeles.
After the interview, Biden infamously froze up while acknowledging a round of applause from the crowd, at which point Obama was forced to grab his former vice president and guide him off the stage.
The event was even more disastrous behind the scenes, according to a newly-released excerpt from the upcoming book “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson. Biden was reportedly unable to recognize Clooney at the event, who was enthusiastically supporting his re-election campaign and was viewed as a crucial source of fundraising at the time.
Clooney and fellow actor Julia Roberts were chatting with wealthy donors and posing for photos when attendees began to murmur. The “Gravity” star then turned to see Biden “hobbl[ing] out from around the corner,” Thompson and Tapper’s book revealed.
The actor knew that Biden “had just arrived from the G-7 leaders’ summit in Apulia, Italy, that morning and might be tired, but, holy s**t, he wasn’t expecting this,” the excerpt reads.
“The president appeared severely diminished, as if he’d aged a decade since Clooney last saw him,” the book continues, adding that Biden “was taking tiny steps, and an aide seemed to be guiding him by the arm.”
One unnamed Hollywood VIP was quoted in the excerpt saying, “It was like watching someone who was not alive,” adding, “It was startling. And we all looked at each other. It was so awful.”
Biden reportedly approached Clooney and thanked him for attending on two separate occasions. “You know George,” an aide then reportedly told the president, to which Biden replied, “Yeah, yeah,” before thanking him for attending for a third time.
At that point, Clooney asked the president how he was doing, to which Biden responded, “How are ya?”
The two then continued to make small talk, though it became evident to Clooney that Biden did not appear to recognize him despite their long-running relationship. “It was not okay,” the Hollywood insider who witnessed the interaction said, according to the excerpt that was published by The New Yorker on Tuesday.
“That thing, the moment where you recognize someone you know — especially a famous person who’s doing a fucking fundraiser for you — it was delayed. It was uncomfortable,” the unnamed Hollywood star added.
Clooney was reportedly “shaken to his core” over the interaction, the excerpt notes. “The President hadn’t recognized him, a man he had known for years.”
TIMESGRAB / / U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. President Barack Obama with Julia Roberts and George Clooney, during a star-studded campaign fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Just weeks after co-hosting the fundraiser, Clooney emerged as a major player in the political arena when he called on the president to step down in an op-ed titled “I Love Joe Biden. But We Need a New Nominee,” in the New York Times.
Clooney explained that as a “lifelong Democrat,” he loves President Biden and believes he has done an excellent job as president. “But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time. None of us can. It’s devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser 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,” Clooney wrote.
Former President Obama reportedly urged Clooney to publish the devastating op-ed as part of a pressure campaign to force Biden’s removal from the Democratic Party ticket. Obama had hoped that by doing so, Biden would realize his Hollywood fundraising, which was expected to be a major source of campaign funds, was drying up.
Following former Vice President Kamala Harris’ crushing defeat in the presidential election, the “Michael Clayton” actor was “furious” with Obama and felt that he had been used as a scapegoat, according to a report from RadarOnline.
