Fox 411’s Roger Friedman did a little (and I mean little) investigation into campaign contributions recently and found that black celebrities like Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Diddy, Jay-Z, and Bob Johnson haven’t opened their wallets for Barack Obama. This supposedly means that “Oprah Winfrey’s backing of Barack Obama for president hasn’t influenced a lot of other heavy hitting black celebrities to join her yet.” He mentions Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and Will Smith as donors, but none of the many others I found when I did what had to have been a larger, but hardly exhaustive, investigation into the campaign contribution habits of black celebs.
Obama Donors
Eddie Murphy
Pauletta Washington (maybe she handles the political donations in the Washington house)
Samuel Jackson
Chris Rock
Will Smith
Forest Whitaker
Halle Berry
Angela Bassett
Camille Cosby
Tyler Perry
Tyra Banks
Phylicia Rashad
Dennis Haysbert
Tracey Edmonds
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds
Gabrielle Union
Hill Harper
Holly Robinson Peete
Jamie Foxx
Nia Long
Morgan Freeman
Oprah Winfrey
Earvin “Magic” Johnson
Regina King
Jasmine Guy
Debra Lee
Michael Jordan
Clinton Donors
Debra Lee
Quincy Jones
Earvin “Magic” Johnson
Star Jones
Vivica Fox
Source: Fundrace
Clinton donors: a little d-listy, no? I mean, except for Q…
Haha, you beat me to it. Propaganda at its finest.
I’ll bet Roger Friedman has never heard of Hill Harper and Regina King - he was surely only looking for “A-listers”. And I’m sure he didn’t think to look for any spouses (Camille Cosby, Pauletta Washington) or black business executives that we would know right away (Debra Lee).
Also (not to be overzealous
) but I recall Usher campaigning for Barack early last year and I’ll bet he donated money.
Oh, and Bob Johnson is a Hillary Clinton backer, so it’s doubtful that he’d “open his wallet” for Obama.
As long as the “soldiers” keep donating…celeb $$ doesn’t mean anything.
So, Magic Johnson gave donations on both sides?
That’s not uncommon in primaries.
@Jaime - According to an article last week on the Huffington Post, Magic gave his first ever political donation to Barack Obama last March - but he switched to Hillary last summer, possibly due to business considerations:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....79087.html
There was a big fund-raising bash in Obama’s honor early last year in Beverly Hills, and I know that Denzel Washington was mentioned in that context, together with David Geffen and Tom Hanks, as one of the “instigators”, see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01998.html
Seems checking facts is too bothersome for Faux News.
Lots of people who can afford it give to multiple candidates. There are some who seem to do it more often than others. Barbra Streisand is one. Individuals and corporations do it all the time. It’s more common if you’re pushing an issue. Lots of anti-choice people will give to every anti-choice candidate.
…oh, and lots of companies give to everyone.
Agreed. I’ve given to the big three. Edwards and Obama once. Hillary gets most of it. I also give directly to the DNC. Once the nomination is done, I’ll give it all to that person.
Thanks for the actual list.
You can’t trust Fox for much of anything, eh?
http://www.ohellnawlblog.com