George Clooney Dinner Raises $15 Million For Obama
Posted on Fri May 11th, 2012 9:20am PDT By X17 Staff
George Clooney pulled out all the stops to host a $40K a plate dinner for President Barack Obama, and 150 of his A-list celebrity friends, at his Hollywood home on Thursday evening.
The lavish dinner was catered by Wolfgang Puck himself, and is expected to raise up to $15 million in donations for Obama's campaign, which officially makes this one of the biggest presidential fundraisers in US history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
After dinner the Prez gave a speech, and revealed that his famed Hope poster from the 2008 campaign was actually inspired by a photograph of Obama sitting next to Clooney, when he was a U.S. senator.
“This is the first time that George Clooney has ever been photo-shopped out of a picture. Never happened before, never happen again,†Obama confessed.
The $40,000 dinner included an artichoke salad followed by roasted duckling “Peking style†with tiny buns, a duo of lamb and beef cheek with potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and sweet corn tortelloni.
Robert Downey Jr., Barbra Streisand, Tobey Maguire, Eddie Murphy, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Herb Alpert, Salma Hayek and Clooney's ladylove, Stacy Keibler were just a few of the notable guests in attendance.
The President also thanked the Oscar winner for his support, saying, "We raised a lot of money because people love George. They like me; they love George. He seems to occupy a constant state of grace, and uses his extraordinary talents on behalf of something truly important.â€
After dinner, Obama traveled to Beverly Hills to spend the night and is set to fly to Reno, Nev., in the morning to address residents on mortgage reform, and on Monday he will head to NYC for an event jointly sponsored by Latino and gay supporters.
Would you pay $40K for dinner with Obama?
The lavish dinner was catered by Wolfgang Puck himself, and is expected to raise up to $15 million in donations for Obama's campaign, which officially makes this one of the biggest presidential fundraisers in US history, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
After dinner the Prez gave a speech, and revealed that his famed Hope poster from the 2008 campaign was actually inspired by a photograph of Obama sitting next to Clooney, when he was a U.S. senator.
“This is the first time that George Clooney has ever been photo-shopped out of a picture. Never happened before, never happen again,†Obama confessed.
The $40,000 dinner included an artichoke salad followed by roasted duckling “Peking style†with tiny buns, a duo of lamb and beef cheek with potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and sweet corn tortelloni.
Robert Downey Jr., Barbra Streisand, Tobey Maguire, Eddie Murphy, Jack Black, Billy Crystal, Herb Alpert, Salma Hayek and Clooney's ladylove, Stacy Keibler were just a few of the notable guests in attendance.
The President also thanked the Oscar winner for his support, saying, "We raised a lot of money because people love George. They like me; they love George. He seems to occupy a constant state of grace, and uses his extraordinary talents on behalf of something truly important.â€
After dinner, Obama traveled to Beverly Hills to spend the night and is set to fly to Reno, Nev., in the morning to address residents on mortgage reform, and on Monday he will head to NYC for an event jointly sponsored by Latino and gay supporters.