Leonardo DiCaprio backed out of hosting a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton because he’s putting the finishing touches on his documentary about climate change.
(Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images)
Guests who were scheduled to attend the event at the actor’s home received an email over the weekend notifying them 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.”
(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS)
On Monday, the Hollywood Reporter speculated that DiCaprio called off the fundraiser because he was recently linked to a $3 billion Malaysian embezzlement scandal.
“Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an asset-seizure complaint in federal court pertaining to a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund called 1MDB,” the Hollywood Reporter noted Monday.
“The fund allegedly backed Red Granite Pictures, the production company behind DiCaprio’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’ He is mentioned only as ‘Hollywood Actor 1’ in the complaint, but it suggests the actor’s eponymous foundation may have benefited from gifts made by Red Granite, its principal Riza Aziz and a key 1MDB figure named Jho Low.”
(Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
The actor’s rep denied that claim.
“It’s completely false,” Shawn Sachs told the Hollywood Reporter. “It’s not at all true.”
“If we could have had the event at his home, we would have loved to. He was gracious enough to find us a new host. We hope to do something with him in the future.”