Singer-songwriter Billie Eilish announced a multimillion-dollar donation from her recent world tour and challenged billionaires to share their wealth during an awards ceremony in New York, according to People.
The 23-year-old artist is donating $11.5 million from her “Hit Me Hard and Soft” tour to support organizations focused on food equity, climate justice, reducing carbon pollution and combating the climate crisis, the report said.
Talk show host Stephen Colbert revealed the donation before Eilish accepted the Music Innovator Award at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards on Wednesday, the report said.
“That’s wonderful Billie, on behalf of humans everywhere, thank you,” Colbert said.
During her acceptance speech, Eilish urged wealthy members of the star-studded audience to donate their money as well, the report said.
“We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help more than, kind of, ever, especially in our country,” she said. “I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things, maybe give it to some people that need it.”
Eilish then specifically addressed billionaires in attendance.
“Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me,” she said. “If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.”
According to People, while her comments received laughter and applause from most of the audience, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, reportedly did not join in.
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