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billie eilish Wants billionaires to donate more.
As Grammy and Oscar winners accept music awards this year WSJAt the Magazine Innovator Awards Wednesday night he urged the ultra-wealthy to address more of the world’s issues.
“We’re in a time right now where the world is really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help more than ever, especially in our country,” Eilish told the audience, which also included the CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla ChanAs well as “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. “I would say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things, maybe give it to some people who need it.”
Late night host Stephen Colbert introduced Eilish on stage at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, announcing that she would donate $11.5 million of the proceeds from her Hit Me Hard & Soft Tour to causes dedicated to food equality, climate justice, and reducing carbon pollution.
While accepting the award, the “Bad Guy” singer made a polite but direct call to action to others in the room, saying that a lot of people, especially in America, could use some help right now.
“Love you all, but there are some people here who have a lot more money than me,” she said to applause. “And if you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? And don’t hate, but give your money away, little ones.”
Through her Changemaker program, Eilish has worked for years with artists ranging from Dead & Company to Harry Styles, with the nonprofit Reverb on its Music Decarbonization Project, and the Music Climate Revolution initiative.
Eilish’s comments come as the number of billionaires continues to rise worldwide, with 204 new billionaires added in 2024, according to Oxfam International’s January report titled “Takers Not Makers.”
The report, released just ahead of the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland, found that billionaires grew richer three times faster in 2024 than in 2023, pointing to a growing concentration of resources globally.
Oxfam predicts that at least five people will become billionaires in the next decade, up from one person last year. The group called for higher taxes on the rich and other measures to break up monopolies, capping CEO pay and requiring companies to pay a livable wage.
The wealthiest Americans have a long history of asking each other to give away more of their money. In 1889, steel magnate and industrialist Andrew Carnegie argued in the essay, “The Gospel of Wealth”, that to soften the blow of growing inequality, the richest people should give away their wealth during their lifetimes.
In 2010, Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett made this call. To give promiseA commitment for billionaires to give away more than half of their wealth during their lifetime or upon death.
Fifteen years later, some 256 billionaires have taken the pledge, 110 of which come from the US, according to a recent report by the Institute for Policy Studies’ Charity Reform Initiative. According to the report, those American billionaires represent 13% of America’s total of 876 billionaires, revealing a tiny fraction of the wealthiest people who have publicly committed to giving away significant portions of their fortunes.
The report found that of the 22 billionaires who have died since taking the pledge, only one donated their wealth before dying. Meanwhile, only eight of the 22 deceased mortgagees fulfilled the commitment by giving half or more of their assets upon their death, although resolution of some of their assets is still underway.
Chuck Collins, one of the report’s authors and an expert at the Institute for Policy Studies, said Eilish’s comments are part of a growing realization that the rules of the economy favor those who own wealth, rather than those who earn wages.
He believes the Giving Pledge has created expectation and competition for the richest people to give away their money, but the fortunes of many of those who have pledged have increased over time, meaning they will need to move even more aggressively if they are to meet the commitment.
“Ultimately, philanthropy is not a substitute for a fair and effective tax system,” Collins said. “The extreme levels of inequality will require some form of progressivity restored to the tax system, a wealth tax as well as a progressive income tax.”
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits is supported through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.