How Biden Lost George Clooney and Hollywood

When aides to President Biden heard in recent days that George Clooney, as close a figure as there is in Hollywood to royalty, planned to publicly break with Mr. Biden in an essay that cast doubt on his re-election chances, panic set in from Wilmington to Beverly Hills.

Could Mr. Clooney be persuaded not to publish it?

The movie mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg sought to intervene. Mr. Katzenberg, who moonlights as a top Biden official and has worked with Mr. Clooney on philanthropy for decades, reached out to him to see if there was an off-ramp, according to three people familiar with the matter. There was not — Mr. Clooney published his essay in The New York Times, and the president’s relationship with Hollywood was torn asunder.

The fallout from the Clooney essay has ricocheted across the worlds of politics and entertainment — and onto Mr. Katzenberg himself. It has turned Hollywood, America’s drama capital, into ground zero for the impasse between the Biden campaign and the major donors who increasingly do not want it to proceed.

“This is a town that pays attention to box office, and the numbers do not look encouraging right now,” said Billy Ray, the screenwriter behind “The Hunger Games” and other films who has worked with Democratic candidates on messaging. “I do think they’re going to have a challenge raising more money.”

The Biden large-donor scene, where Mr. Katzenberg is treated as royalty himself, has been devastated since Mr. Biden’s debate performance two weeks ago. Several fund-raising events are in jeopardy and scores of donors have informed the campaign they will not continue to give if Mr. Biden remains in the race. The campaign has pointed to its recent low-dollar fund-raising success.

Still, top Biden campaign