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Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images
President Joe Biden, on a West Coast fundraiser, attended a shiva to mourn Norman Lear, who died this week at the age of 101.
Biden attended shiva at Lear’s home, according to the White House.
The president and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime friend of Lear’s, also honored him at a Hollywood fundraiser for the Biden-Harris reelection campaign.
The president praised Lear as a “powerful change in American culture,” and noted her decades of political support, saying she “fought right for free speech, a woman’s right.” to choose, environment, rights, and more.”
Lear’s political influence was greater than the influence of his plays. In the early 1980s, he founded People for the American Way, an advocacy group against the rising power of the religious right. The organization has been part of several major political battles, including the 1987 election of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court.
Biden has been participating in fundraising/publicity events with high-profile donors throughout the day on Saturday, including one in Beverly Hills, and is expected to headline an event with first lady Jill Biden at the Saturday evening.
On Saturday afternoon, the first lady attended a fundraiser at NeueHouse Hollywood hosted by Matthew Crowley and Martha Leon De La Barra. Actress Connie Britton introduced her, according to a pool report, and she also did a Q&A with actress Elizabeth Banks.
The first lady said, according to the pool report, “I wish this election was about simple policy differences. I wish it was about differences in character or merit. But the main thing is that this election is about democracy.”
“We are the party that protects, not tearing at its joints…We are the party that protects the right of the people of this country to live freely, not praising the violent thumbs the politicians”.