Armie Hammer Calls Out Marvel For Trump Connection After Soul Cycle Boycott
The eccentric and rarely photographed billionaire C.E.O behind Marvel Entertainment until 2015 has indeed been a major player in the company’s success in recent decades.
The Israel-born businessman, who sits atop an estimated $5.2 billion fortune, was instrumental in rescuing Marvel from bankruptcy when interest in comic books waned during the mid-90s.
As a close and personal friend to the Trump family, Perlmutter and his wife have supported a host of conservative causes and politicians over the years, including donating $2 million to Marco Rubio’s campaign in 2016. In July, Perlmutter wrote a check for $360,000, which his wife matched, to fund Trump’s 2020 efforts.
Described as one three “shadow rulers” of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Perlmutter also donated $1 million to Trump’s veterans fundraiser back in 2016, according to a ProPublica report this year, which claimed the two “regularly talk on the phone and dine together” at the Mar-a-Lago resort.
But after years of reported tension with current Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who’s the mastermind behind the company’s ever-expanding film slate, Perlmutter’s involvement in movie-making ceased. Feige instead now reports to Disney studio chief Alan Horn.
Feige and Perlmutter reportedly clashed over the studio’s investment in a more diverse roster of superheroes, with a leaked email from the infamous Sony hack, revealing the latter’s distaste for female-led Marvel movies.
Despite cutting ties with the companies filmmaking arm, Perlmutter still serves as chairman of Marvel Entertainment to this day.