Susan Sarandon, the Academy Award winning actress, does not think that President Joe Biden can win his bid for reelection against former president Donald Trump — and that the incumbent president should step down from his party’s ticket.
“Yes,” she said enthusiastically when asked Wednesday evening if the president should withdraw. “Obviously there are a lot of people within the party who feel the same way.”
“I don’t think the dust has settled on our choices” she told Variety on Thursday night at the New York premiere for “The Fabulous Four,” a summer comedy starring Sarandon alongside Sheryl Lee Ralph, Megan Mullally and Bette Midler.
“I think it’s obvious [why he should step down],” she continued. “Way before the age thing came into play, hundreds of thousands of uncommitted voters in swing states, because of the war in Gaza, put his possible election in jeopardy.”
Sarandon joins a number of Hollywood Democratic players who have called for President Biden to step down, most notably George Clooney, who penned an op-ed in The New York Times earlier this month calling for the president to withdraw.
Like Clooney, Sarandon is a known advocate and player in Democratic politics. Over the years, her political presence has shadowed her acting career and, as of late, usurped it.
Sarandon was an early and vocal supporter of Bernie Sanders, for whom she campaigned widely in 2016. When Sanders did not win the Democratic nomination, Sarandon endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein over Hillary Clinton. Clinton later cited in her 2017 memoir that Sarandon’s endorsement of Stein was a blow to her campaign in key swing states.
In November, 2023, Sarandon was dropped by United Talent Agency after she spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York. In her speech, Sarandon said that fearful Jewish Americans were “getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.”
Sarandon remains an outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights, wearing a pro-Palestinian button on the red carpet Thursday evening.
At the premiere, she said her support for the Palestinian cause in Gaza—and disapproval of the Biden administration’s handling of the war—already alienated her from the current Democratic ticket.
“For me, more than the state of the race, is the fact that I’m paying for a genocide, and for me that’s a very important issue,” she told Variety. When asked, Sarandon said that she did not have a candidate she planned to support for the 2024 presidential election.
As for the film Sarandon was there to promote, Sarandon said she was happy to be part of a light-hearted summer comedy. “I always have fun,” she said.
“It celebrates friendships, and women and forgiveness—it’s also just silly,” she said of the film, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse. “We had a good time. I don’t think we expected it to be a big social commentary. I’m also always looking for an opportunity to work with women. They usually don’t put more than two women in a film.”
Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Kristina Bumphrey for Variety
On the red carpet, she was joined by cast-member (and recent Emmy nominee) Ralph, who had a different spin to offer.
“We’re in full absolute chaos, and for me, this is the summer movie you didn’t know you needed. This is the one to bring you calm,” she said.
“If this were a scene in any political drama,” Ralph continued, commenting on our political environment, “people would have said that would never happen in this country, and we are not those people. That’s what they would have said. You could not script it.”
