Thousands of ‘white dudes’ joined forces for a giant Zoom call for Vice President Kamala Harris Monday night that raised more than $4 million for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee in a matter of hours.
The ‘White Dudes for Harris’ fundraiser ended up being a star-studded event with a series of actors, musicians, prominent lawmakers and others tuning in to show their support for Harris and to take on Donald Trump.
The three hour call gained so much online attention Monday night that it became a trending topic on X before the ‘White Dudes for Harris’ account was temporarily suspended.
Event organizers directly called out Elon Musk for the suspension and accused the Trump-backer of election interference.
The call was modeled after several other grassroots organizing events in the past week. The first organized by Win with Black Women included 44,000 black women who raised more than $1.5 million the same day Harris entered the race in three hours just over a week ago.
It was followed by fundraisers by black men and white women in the past week which have raised millions since President Joe Biden exited the race.
Actor Jeff Bridges, known as ‘The Dude’ joined a ‘White Dudes for Harris’ Zoom call on Monday that went viral while raising money for Kamala Harris
Actor Jeff Bridges, the original ‘The Dude’ was one of the biggest celebrities to make an appearance backing the vice president on Monday. He hopped on the call channeling his iconic character in the 1998 movie ‘The Big Lebowski.’
‘I was brought to the party not so much as being white, and I certainly am, but become I’m dude you know,’ Bridges said with a laugh. ‘I’m white, I’m a dude and I’m for Harris.’
He praised Biden passing the baton and touted Harris’ record championing women’s rights, protecting the environment and fighting for children.
‘A woman president, man, how exciting,’ he declared.
The call lasted more than three hours and organizers said it attracted 193,000-plus people. More than 150,000 people signed up for the group.
The ‘White Dudes for Harris’ event came after several other grassroots fundraisers. A Win with Black Women call the day Kamala Harris announced her candidacy raise more than $1.5 million in three hours
Other ‘white dude’ celebrities on the call included actors Mark Hamill, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bradley Whitford, Sean Austin and Mark Ruffalo.
‘What a variety of whiteness we have here. We got The Dude, we got Pete, it’s like a rainbow of beige,’ said Whitford, star of The West Wing.
Gordon-Levitt went after Donald Trump’s record as a businessman, calling him a ‘con man.’
‘He’ll screw over everybody, just like every con man does, and if he’s going to help anybody, it’s going to be buys like him: rich and powerful people, helping them get more rich and powerful,’ he claimed.
Actor Sean Austin joined the Monday night event that raised more than $4.2 million and made an emotional plea in support of Kamala Harris
Actor Mark Hamill has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump for years. The Star Wars actor also joined the call for Kamala Harris on Monday night
At one point Austin, who played Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, became emotional.
‘The idea that men can gather to talk about how we feel. It’s powerful. And everyone is welcome,’ he said.
He also praised Harris record from her time in the Senate.
‘Kamala Harris smiles, she laughs, she dances, she has joy, she’s alive and they try and ridicule her for that,’ said Austin passionately.
‘This is a serious person who can prosecute a tough case against people when she’s in the Senate,’ he said.
NSYNC’s Lance Bass, who recently appeared with Harris on social media, was also on the call as well as singer Josh Groban.
The ‘White Dudes for Harris’ Zoom call had more than 193,000 participants and raised $4.2 million for the vice president’s campaign over three hours on Monday night
A number of Democrats who have been floated as Harris’ running mate were also on the call Monday including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Buttigieg went after Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance. Pritzker called Vance Trump’s ‘mini me’ and tested out a number of his own anti-Trump jokes.
‘I even created my own cognitive test that describes the two of them: sofa, dolphin, shark, cats, convict,’ he deadpanned before an awkward Zoom pause.
‘Now these are two men who are fundamentally unfit for the office,’ he continued.
‘How often in 100 days do you get to change the trajectory of the world? How often in 100 days do you get to do something that’s going to impact generations to come?’ said Walz in his pitch.
‘How often in the world do you make that b*****d wake up afterwards and know that a black woman kicked his a** and sent him on the road?’ he added.
