Big-time political bundler and Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein gave a group of New York and DC school kids a lesson in how power really works.
At a White House event to promote film with First Lady Michelle Obama, starlet Blake Lively told a sad story about how her high school prevented her from attending graduation because of her fledgling film career.
“They wanted to shut me down,” she vented.
That prompted a lesson from Weinstein, who has hosted numerous big-bucks fund-raisers for President Obama: “I don’t ever let anybody tell me no — including the White House,” Weinstein lectured at the forum to tout film and TV industries as a possible career path for students.
Composer Alan Menken kicked off the event with five Oscars lined up on a piano. He teased the audience by introducing the first lady, subbing in the line “beauty and the chief” to one of his hits.
“I thought he was going to call the president ‘the beast,’’ quipped Michelle Obama. “I was going to laugh at that.”