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Biden fundraiser co-host has invite pulled after sexual assault accusation

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One of the co-hosts of an upcoming fundraiser for President Joe Biden has been removed from invitations to the Hollywood event after he was sued for $25 million in a sexual misconduct lawsuit.

Matthew Pritzker, whose relatives started the Hyatt hotel chain and whose cousin is Biden campaign co-chair and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, has been removed from the list of co-hosts for Friday’s event, the president’s first in Los Angels since the end of the writer and actor strikes. The entertainment industry has long served major donors for the Democratic Party.

Pritzker’s name is absent from an updated list, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday. Newsweek has not been able to independently review the list. Pritzker had been listed on invitations for the fundraiser, along with director Steven Spielberg, showrunner Shonda Rhimes and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The Times said new co-hosts have been added to the lineup.

The updated invitation comes two weeks after Pritzker was hit with a New York lawsuit accusing him of engaging in “sexual acts” with a “Jane Doe” who was “incapacitated and could not provide consent.” The alleged incident occurred in Manhattan in May 2009. Pritzker has until December 13 to respond.

Biden Hollywood Fundraiser Lawsuit
President Joe Biden speaks on November 29, 2023, in Pueblo, Colorado. Inset: Matthew Pritzker attends a film premiere on January 7, 2013, in Los Angeles, California. Pritzker was scheduled to co-host a Biden fundraiser but his name was pulled from event invitations.
Michael Ciaglo/David Livingston/Getty Images

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

Biden’s fundraiser will be hosted at the home of celebrity interior designer Michael Smith and his partner, James Costos, a former HBO executive who served as President Barack Obama’s ambassador to Spain. The couple also hosted Biden’s first Hollywood-centric fundraiser in the 2020 election cycle. Singer Lenny Kravitz is slated to perform and Barbra Streisand is expected to be among those attending.

Tickets for the event sold out at the $1,000 level and now begin at $3,300 per person. Those go up to $500,000 for the “chair” level, and those who contribute $25,000 or more will have access to a photo line. Proceeds will go to the Biden Victory Fund, the joint fundraising committee of the Biden campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state parties.

Because of the joint fundraising agreement, Biden is able to receive a check from a single donor that is in the range of $1 million. At the last fundraising reporting deadline in September, Biden and the Democratic Party reported $91 million cash on hand.

Pritzker has been active in Democratic politics at the local, state and national level. He has donated about $2.35 million to Democratic candidates and causes at the federal level over the last decade, including $25,600 to Biden’s 2020 campaign. He supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

The suit against Pritzker is one of the many last-minute lawsuits that were filed in the final days of the Adult Survivors Act. The 2022 law allowed for a yearlong suspension of the typical time limit in which someone can sue for alleged sexual assault. The one-year window closed at the end of Thanksgiving Day, November 23.

More than 2,500 lawsuits were filed under the special state law, including a number of high-profile complaints against former President Donald Trump, rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, actor Jamie Foxx, Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose and music mogul L.A. Reid. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo were sued in the days leading up to the legislation’s expiration.