It is no secret that celebrities and CEO’s have a great amount of expendable cash. Some celebrities are known for their over-the-top generosity, like Oprah Winfrey, Bono, and Jon Bon Jovi. The idea that celebrities and other known individuals of massive wealth donate large quantities of money to certain politicians isn’t unheard of, but you may be surprised at which celebrities and CEO’s are donating and who exactly they are writing checks to.
Adam Sandler, the quirky comedian, has made laughable movies like, “Billy Madison” and “Big Daddy” along with some movies that caused people question his comedic skills as in, “Little Nicky”. The funnyman has been an elite member of Hollywood since his successful days as a member of the cult hit television show “Saturday Night Live”. Fans probably assume that Sandler is a liberal democrat. That assumption would be incorrect. On February 6, 2007, Adam Sandler wrote a check to the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Committee Inc. for $2,100. Giuliani is a republican presidential candidate. Sandler’s donation almost reaches the maximum amount that is allowed to be donated to each candidate, which is $2,300. Sandler hails from Brooklyn, New York, so perhaps Sandler supports the Republican Giuliani because he is the former mayor of New York City.
The loud, brash comedic whit of Joan Rivers is likely to lead one to believe that she is certainly also an outspoken voice for women and which would lead to the obvious conclusion that she harbors democratic beliefs. Wrong. The last campaign contribution that Rivers made was in 1999. She donated $1,000 to republican Rudy Giuliani and another $1,000 to republican Steve Forbes for his presidential exploratory committee. Rivers’ total donations amount to $6,750 with a rough percentage breakdown of 44.4% republican, 48.1% going to special interest, and only 7.4% going to democrats.
Rosie O’Donnell has never been shy about her political stance. Rosie has a reputation for being quite generous, but people may be surprised at how much of her own money she has put into backing political candidates that she believes in. Since 1998 Rosie has penned checks for political donations amassing to $169,000. In February and March of this year, Rosie wrote checks to the following presidential candidates for the maximum of $2,300 each: Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards. Rosie also gives generously to special interest groups, particularly the Human Rights Campaign, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and Emily’s List.
With so much interest being focused on the 2008 election, it is interesting to see which celebrities and CEO’s have already donated money to presidential hopefuls. See the list of celebrity and CEO donations here.
