Why did Leonardo DiCaprio drop out of hosting Hillary Clinton fundraiser?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hillary Clinton (left) and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. (Reuters)
Leo DiCaprio abruptly backed out of hosting a $33,400-per-guest fundraiser for Hillary Clinton at his LA home on Tuesday, saying the change in plans was because of the production schedule for a documentary he’s producing — but not everybody is convinced of the story.
The move came just days after the Hollywood Reporter said the star and his eponymous foundation could be linked to a scandal involving a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, at the same time Hillary and Bill Clinton’s own charitable fund is under scrutiny.
Guests attending the Clinton event in LA were notified via email over the weekend that “the production schedule for [DiCaprio’s] climate change film ‘Before the Flood’ has altered . . . which will prevent him from returning to Los Angeles . . . As a result, Leo personally asked his friends Justin Timberlake and wife Jessica Biel to host Tuesday’s lunch with Hillary at their home in the Hollywood Hills.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But some attendees wondered if the move had more to do with the THR report, which said the US Department of Justice filed an asset-seizure complaint in federal court pertaining to a Malaysian fund that backed Red Granite Pictures — a production company behind the DiCaprio film “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
THR wrote: “The complaint does not target DiCaprio — he’s referred to twice in the 136-page document only as ‘Hollywood Actor 1.’ ” But “The scandal shines an unfamiliar light on the charitable foundation of the most powerful actor in Hollywood thanks to the way [it] has benefited directly from DiCaprio’s relationship with key figures in the saga.”
A Clinton insider told us the THR report was “not at all a factor” in the move. A source close to the star added, “Leo is stuck in New York until Wednesday to finish his current project in time for it to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival . . . Not wanting to leave Hillary hanging, Leo called his friends Justin and Jessica and asked if they would host.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}DiCaprio was in the Hamptons over the weekend with girlfriend Nina Agdal when the pair was involved in a fender-bender.
A conservative street artist called Sabo took aim at DiCaprio and Clinton in LA on Monday.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post's Page Six.