Despite having deep ties with China, former Disney CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife Marilyn recently donated more than $1.7 million to a fundraising committee of President Biden’s reelection campaign.
On 25 April, Biden’s campaign announced that Katzenberg would serve as one of its national co-chairs.
On 27 April, the Biden Victory Fund, the campaign’s joint fundraising vehicle, got $889,600 donation from Marilyn, according to Federal Election Commission records.
On 28 April, the Biden Victory Fund received a $889,600 donation from Katzenberg himself.
According to Fox News report, both Katzenberg and Marilyn are also maxed-out donors to Biden’s presidential campaign, donating $6,600 each in late April.
According to media reports, Katzenberg’s deep and longstanding ties to China’s Communist government potentially present a problem for the president over the country’s human rights abuses.
In 2014, Katzenberg had said that he visited China every month for years while running DreamWorks Animation. “I’ve been to China every single month for the last two and a half years because it’s a place of incredible opportunity right now.”
“We have enough characters and stories to create a unique, new kind of theme park experience. We’re building an animation studio in the middle of Shanghai called ‘Dream Center,’” he had said.
When Katzenberg was at DreamWorks in 2012, the company announced a multibillion-dollar deal with the Chinese government to build a production studio in Shanghai.
However, the deal triggered an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into DreamWorks Animation and other studios for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by allegedly bribing Chinese officials to gain access to the Chinese market.
Biden also played a central role in pushing Hollywood’s entry into Chinese markets during the Obama administration, meeting with Xi Jinping multiple times during the Chinese leader’s trip to the US.
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Updated: 17 Jul 2023, 11:29 PM IST