Jeffrey Katzenberg Pays Tribute to “Selfless” Joe Biden: “For the President, It was Never About Himself”

Jeffrey Katzenberg paid tribute to “selfless” Joe Biden, in the media mogul and Democratic Party megadonor’s first public comments since the president’s shock decision to end his re-election campaign.

In a New York Times op-ed, published Wednesday in the aftermath of Biden’s Oval Office address about his decision to step aside, Katzenberg was effusive in his praise for the president, someone the DreamWorks co-founder and Quibi founder said he had known for 40 years. “I have seen firsthand who he is. I don’t know anyone who has suffered more personal tragedy, with the loss of his wife, daughter and son. Yet somehow he has been able to transform these monumental losses into something of a superpower,” Katzenberg wrote. “Time and again, I have seen how through his grief, he has been able to help others heal from theirs. His empathy and optimism know no bounds.”

Katzenberg, who was co-chair for the Biden-Harris campaign, added the easy and human thing would have been for Biden to carry on his campaign despite the rampant speculation about his mental acuity and the criticism about his age.

“For the president, it was never about himself. It was about what was best for the country,” Katzenberg writes. “The only thing that mattered was ensuring that Donald Trump never again set foot in the White House. When he saw that this mission was in jeopardy, the president did what few can do: This past Sunday, he selflessly let go of the reins.”

Katzenberg confessed to “bittersweet” feelings about Biden ending his re-election efforts, but he felt it was the “Biden thing to do” to look ahead with optimism and back Kamala Harris. Of Harris, Katzenberg added that the vice president “is tested, and she is ready. I’ve known her for 20 years and have had a front-row seat to admire her remarkable accomplishments as a prosecutor, attorney general, senator and vice president.”

The op-ed comes amid criticism Katzenberg faced in Hollywood after Biden’s disastrous first presidential debate performance, criticism which snowballed to the point where the president was reportedly pushed to step aside. Before Biden’s announcement to end his campaign, The Hollywood Reporter reported last week that several Hollywood Democratic megadonors blamed Katzenberg for keeping them in the dark about Biden’s physical and mental condition.