Sharon Stone and legendary long jump champion Carl Lewis both voiced support for Kamala Harris in her bid to become U.S. president, on the fringes of a gala at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday evening.
“I’m all in for Kamala Harris,” said Stone. “It’s not only because she’s a woman and because we see clearly in businesses that women leaders are better leaders, and that men who hire women within their companies do better.
“We understand that Kamala Harris was a lawyer, who became a prosecutor, who became an attorney general, who became a senator, who then was a presidential candidate, who gained so much respect in that campaign that she was asked to become vice president of the United States. This is a qualified person. This is not a game show host who looks like a 1975 Vegas act.”
Following President Joe Biden’s decision last month to withdraw as the Democratic candidate in next November’s presidential elections, Kamala has been the hot favorite to pick up the baton but she still has to be formally endorsed by the Democratic Party.
On Friday, she reached the threshold of 2,350 votes from Democratic Party delegates needed for her to be the presidential nominee. The online vote runs until Monday.
Stone reiterated her pledge that she would relocate outside of the U.S. if Trump wins, saying: “I won’t live in a country that’s manifest is hatred.”
The star and philanthropist was speaking to journalists ahead of the fundraising Olympic Gala Of Champions in Paris on Saturday, a joint event between Sport for Peace and the separate charitable foundations of Lewis and swimming star Michael Phelps.
Both sports legends were in attendance alongside a host of other sports personalities including diving champion Greg Louganis, Lewis’ former long jump rival Mike Powell, gymnast Nadia Comaneci, and ex-Arsenal soccer club manager Arsene Wenger.
Also quizzed on Harris, Lewis said was time for a woman to take charge of the U.S.
“Women, they always hold everything together. Men start every war, men have started every religion, men have started all of these things and look where we are. It’s important for people like Kamala Harris to become president… Look at the message it sends, if a woman is running for the most powerful presidency in the world,” he said.