United States | News & Politics

In the process of reporting an earlier story about Jeffrey Katzenberg’s problematic agewashing of Biden — and the fury it has engendered in Hollywood — I emailed Barry Diller, chairman of IAC, whose hiring of Katzenberg to be his assistant started Katzenberg’s entertainment career. When I asked the billionaire, who also became part of the Paramount process earlier this week, if he and his wife, designer Diane von Fürstenberg, were holding firm with the Biden campaign, he simply replied, “No.” (Diller maxed out with a $6,600 contribution to the Biden campaign in 2023, and gave $100,000 to the president and the Democratic Party’s joint super PAC for the general election.)

When asked his thoughts on the role that Katzenberg, described by the New York Times as Biden’s “Secret Weapon”, and who took an especially active role in campaign strategy as one of seven campaign co-chairs, may have had in concealing the true state of Biden, he said, “Fundraisers are pure cheerleaders for the candidates — they can’t be expected to have a political role.”