A few days ago, singer Nelly Furtado announced that she plans donate the money received from Moammar Gadhafi as compensation for her performance at a private concert setup by the long-time Libyan dictator. However, it seems the Canadian singer was beaten to the punch by Beyonce whose rep told the media today that the R&B singer had already donated her part of the Gadhafi money to charities in 2010.
Last month, whistle blowing website WikiLeaks’ published a document, according to which, big name superstars including Mariah Carey, 50 Cent, Beyonce and Usher had been paid mega money by the Gadhafi family to perform at events organized by them. This week, Rolling Stones magazine claimed that calls for these artists to part ways with the money paid by the Gadhafis have intensified, creating a lot of moral pressure for these stars to come forward in the media and comment on their charity plans.
An anonymous source reported via online radio that Gadhafi’s son Muatassim is very fond of throwing splashy parties, featuring international supermodels and celebrities. However, Beyonce’s spokesperson cleared her name from the saga by breaking the news that the Halo-singer had resolved the issue awhile ago by giving away her Libya-financed paycheck, which she was granted in return for her 2009 performance with Usher at a New Year party held at St. Barts’ Caribbean Island.
Beyonce’s representative said that all the funds including commissions received by the singer’s booking companies were previously donated to Haiti earthquake relief in January 2010. Apparently, the Houston-born recording artist was not aware of Gadhafi group’s involvement in the event, which is why she signed up. However, when the reality was realized, Beyonce chose to use the money for a welfare cause.
The rep named the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund as the recipient of the money and when contacted, the charity officials it was confirmed that they had quietly received a $1 million check from Beyonce Knowles. A compassionate gesture in the aftermath of last year’s deadly quake in Haiti that killed hundreds of thousands of people and demolished most of the poverty stricken country’s infrastructure.
On Monday, Nelly Furtado said via her Twitter account that she also was paid a hefty $1 million sum for a performance lasting less than an hour in front of a private audience in Italy. For the rest of us, I guess we’re lucky we have Free Online Music to listen to. Furtado then tweeted that she also plans to donate the proceeds from that show to a charity.
The Gadhafi and sons’ luxurious lifestyles and their lavish spending on luxury items and events have ignited a revolt against the dictatorship. While the Gadhafi family and their colleges have squandered the countries wealth over the years, the majority of native citizens are left to live in the state-enforced darkness of poverty.