Eilish was present at the WSJ Innovator Awards on October 29th. The 23-year-old attended the event to accept the ‘Music Innovator Award’. While accepting the honour, she revealed the huge charity donation she had recently made.
The star raised the gargantuan sum of $11.5 million through her recent Hit Me Hard and Soft tour. It was also announced that the money will go directly to The Changemaker Program, a charitable initiative that aims to support organisations around the world that address food insecurity and the climate crisis.
Eilish used her acceptance speech to call out those in attendance. Notably, the event was attended by Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who was being honoured for her work in science philanthropy.
Other notable figures in attendance at the ceremony included Hailey Bieber, Spike Lee, George Lucas, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Tory Burch, Questlove, Karlie Kloss and more.
“We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help in our country,” Eilish began.
The ‘Birds of a Feather’ singer continued, “I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things and give it to some people that need it. Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me. If you are a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but give your money away, shorties.”
Eilish has also recently joined a free speech committee that was founded in the 1940s. Jane Fonda will lead the initiative, which aims to “stand together—fiercely united—to defend free speech and expression” from the governmental “assault” upon it. Eilish will work alongside 550 other stars, such as Gillian Anderson, Pedro Pascal, and Gracie Abrams.