Hollywood Declines to Donate to Gavin Newsom

With 28 days before California votes to keep or oust Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom, Hollywood social media activists have mostly held back their considerable means from the embattled French Laundry frequenter.

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To be sure, Newsom has received an eye-popping amount of contributions from various people and organizations, which have now topped $39 million — more than all challengers combined. That includes $3 million from Netflix big Reed Hastings, $2.1 million from the California Democratic Party, and over a million each from eight other various PACs and unions.

But some of the most outspoken and wealthy elite have kept their wallets shut while paying digital lip service and encouraging their vast following to vote no on the recall election.

Over the past week Hollywood celebs took to Twitter in support of the governor. The most prominent among them are Elijah Wood, Mark Hamill, Rob Reiner and George Takei. Yet, in contributions reported to the Secretary of State, both to Gavin Newsom directly and the various PAC’s opposing the recall effort, their names are surprisingly nowhere to be found. Bear in mind that the combined net worth of these superstars exceeds a quarter of a billion dollars. Contrast this with the stars who choose not to tweet but to give instead. Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams, Sia and others have opened their wallets to the tune of close to $200,000. With over 70,000 personal contributions to “Stop the Republican Recall of Gavin Newsom,” the largest PAC opposing the recall effort, these stars widely exceed the average contribution of $32.

George Takei gave liberally in 2020, both of his timeand fortune. However, Sulu doesn’t appear as eager to fly with Mr. Newsom. His name (nor his company Hosato Enterprises) appears on any FEC filings nor databases provided by the secretary of state in relation to this recall. With the star’s history of political activism, including murmurs of a potential run for office, publicizing any gifts to Newsom would only serve to further his interests. It appears this DITO (Donor in Tweet Only) will continue down the avenue of not putting his money where his mouth is.  The star’s Twitter account is so political it rivals that of Debra Messing and Alyssa Milano. After scrolling through incessant tweets deriding former President Donald Trump and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the Blue-Anon conspiracy theorist posted a picture of the recall ballot with the tweet, “It’s Gavin Newsom or someone in the clown-car of candidates. Vote NO for all our sanity.” The Star Trek legend is estimated to be worth $14 million.

Regarding Mark Hamill, he is “using the force” to keep Gavin in office, rather than his estimated $20 million. In a nauseating display of what can only be described as Twitter circle-jerk, Gavin and Mark tweeted back and forth at each other last week regarding  how they share “the Force” regarding the recall effort.

Mr. Skywalker gave close to $10,000 to various federal democrats and PACs last year, including Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossof, Adam Schiff and Joe Biden. But neither he nor his company, Amazing Invisible Inc. can be located on either Gavin Newsom’s donor list or the major PACs opposing the recall. Maybe the check got lost in a galaxy far, far away.

Rob Reiner is perhaps the worst offender in this case because of his considerable wealth and history of political contributions. The lefty producer is worth close to $200 million and yet has kept his bank account out of reach of Gavin Newsom. Not only this, but Reiner is one of the loudest and most bombastic Hollywood insiders. His tweets are regularly derisive, mean-spirited, profanity-laced and beyond the typical virtue signaling of his peers. The producer gave close to $175,000 in 2020 to federal campaigns and PACs. From the Lincoln Project, Karen Bass, both Georgia Senators and Joe Biden, the Stand by Me director kept his donations All in The Family… of Democrats. But not Newsom. Reiner is also known in the past for giving to statewide elections and ballot measures, but not this particular cause. What Reiner’s lack of contributions in relation to his tweets suggest is that opposition to anything Republican is more important than actual support of Governor Newsom.

Newsom’s popularity is cratering in the Golden State and these stars’ lack of contributions suggest Newsom’s struggles are more endemic than people want to consider. The governor was elected by a 23-point margin in 2018 and his favorability has evaporated since the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent polls show him a dead heat for the recall election with 48% favoring remove. A swing of this magnitude in a Democrat stronghold is almost unimaginable. The issues at the heart of the recall include the epidemic of homelessness, rising crime and unemployment along with a French Laundry list of other hypocritical scandals.

What’s noteworthy is that all the other the typical bleeding-heart liberals of Hollywood have yet to come to Gavin’s rescue. With four weeks till Gavin’s Judgement Day, these stars have little time to line Gavin’s coffers. Until such time, the ones who shout against the recall while failing to pony up the dough find themselves exposed for the hypocritical frauds they are, offering lip service to their party’s governor while slamming their vaults to his increasingly unpopular cause.