Hollywood power Democrats came together to support President Obama’s reelection campaign at an exclusive LA fundraiser hosted by Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos and his wife, Nicole Avant, at their Beverly Hills home.
Tuesday’s event brought together an impressive assortment of power players even as Tinseltown is up-in-arms over the White House not taking a tough stance against digital piracy.
Among the 20 to 25 guests were Haim Saban, Steve Bing, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Harvey Weinstein, as well as guest-of-honor Michelle Obama.
Saban’s presence particularly had politicos reading their tea leaves: In the last election, Saban backed Hillary Clinton. Last May, the media mogul hinted he would not continue to donate to Obama and criticized the president for not visiting Israel.
Despite being one of the most generous Democrat donors, Saban — who also invited Nancy Pelosi to speak at a dinner Monday at his Beverly Hills home — was also reportedly being eyed by Mitt Romney’s campaign last fall as a potential donor.
“There were the most important Democratic donors on the West Coast,” said a source about the Sarandos event, adding that it was a coup to get the players together amid the backdrop of the Stop Online Piracy and Protect IP acts’ loss of support on Capitol Hill. “Obama came down on the side of Silicon Valley, rather than Hollywood,” said the source. “And that still has to be worked out.”
The president is expected to visit LA himself later this month as he looks to shore up support from Hollywood.
At the event, Michelle, who made a half-hour speech, also made her Oscar tastes known: She was overheard telling Weinstein that she and her husband were fans of his silent film, “The Artist,” and that they’d seen an early screening of the film along with “The Iron Lady,” adding that Barack is a fan of Meryl Streep.