Politically active A-listers saw Eric Swalwell and thought, that’s a horse I’d like to back.
It’s yet another reminder of the not-so-keen discernment possessed by our preachy celebrity class.
According to records, Swalwell, who resigned from Congress on Monday and dropped his bid for California governor as unsavory sexual misconduct accusations piled up, was the darling of Hollywood heavyweights like Sean Penn and Robert De Niro. Penn gave Swalwell’s campaign $15,000.
Jon Cryer and Jon Hamm each tossed $10,000 into Swalwell’s coffers, as did D-list comedian Kathy Griffin. De Niro, who seems to be on a permanent “No Kings” tour, also gave him ten grand.
All told, he pulled in more than $100,000 from entertainment industry donors.
And wannabe political pundit Jimmy Kimmel donated his late-night audience’s eyeballs to the Swalwell cause back in November, when the married father appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” to announce his ill-fated gubernatorial run.
“He does battle daily with the forces of MAGA,” said Kimmel of Swalwell. “And the president does not like him at all.”
That’s all that mattered to Kimmel & Co. Does he call Trump names and does Trump, in turn, dislike him? Sold. It’s a grudge match.
These Hollywood celebs never miss an opportunity to lecture us regular schlubs about decency, kindness and women’s empowerment. And then they throw their weight behind Swalwell, who it turns out, is allegedly a sleazy sex pest.
His pervy ways were reportedly an open secret in political circles.
“There are a lot of powerful people in this city that validated this guy and enabled him to get as far as he did,” one LA political consultant told Page Six.
All of these celebrities pride themelves on being politically savvy insiders. Many of them seem to spend more time trying to defeat Trump than they do actually, you know, acting. Surely they’d know that Swalwell wasn’t a Boy Scout but someone with a reputation for lecherous behavior.
Now it’s all come to light as five women have come forward. One former Swalwell staffer, who claimed to have previously given her boss oral sex in a car, accused him of rape after a 2024 event. On Tuesday, another woman, Lonna Drewes, said she believes he spiked her drink before choking and sexually assaulting her.
Two women say he sent them flirty messages through Snapchat, with one alleging he dropped a penis pic.
Women say he groomed them by feigning interest in their careers before ultimately steering the conversation toward dirty talk and dirty deeds.
Swalwell has called the first round of allegations against him “flat false” and “categorically and unequivocally” denied Drew’s accusation.
Over the weekend, at least two reporters acknowledged on X that sleazy Swalwell persona was well known.
“I’ve covered Eric Swalwell since he was a member of the Dublin City Council,” Steven Tavares, a political reporter in the Bay Area, wrote on X. “Shortly after being elected to Congress in 2013, his behavior towards women was known by all levels of our local government and the Alameda County Democratic Party.”
Tavares added that he couldn’t compel the women to come forward, and Swalwell was known to be litigious, so he could never publish a story.
Swalwell’s personal and professional life vaporized in an instant not because of some moral obligation in the wake of these allegations. Rather, it was clearly a cynical and strategic execution by party leadership — a thinning of the gubernatorial campaign herd just as two Republicans, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, are in the lead.
God forbid the state get a reprieve from disastrous policies and dysfunction after years of a progressive monopoly.
The Dems are ruthless operators masquerading as believers of women. Remember, it’s the same party that, during Kamala Harris’ presidential run, ignored very credible reporting that her husband, Doug Emhoff, had assaulted a former girlfriend in front of many people in a taxi line. (A spokesperson for Emhoff called it “untrue” at the time.)
Party bosses and the boldfacers who act as surrogates only care when accusations are politically beneficial for them — and Swalwell got in the way.
“Hollywood needs to take a hard look in the mirror because this community — right or wrong — is still essential in determining who gets to have power in this country and in this state,” the aforementioned political consultant told Page Six.
Swalwell does deserve due process. I admit I’m weary of trials in the court of public opinion, especially when accusations feel strategically deployed. Whether he’s a rapist, I can’t say, but I do believe he’s a grade-A pervert in progressive clothing.
Now the glitzy crowd that championed him will just pretend he never existed. They’ll bury his memory, allowing it to sit in the abyss with all the inappropriate Snapchat messages he’s accused of sending.
