Billie Eilish may be soft-spoken, but she doesn’t shy away from speaking her mind. On Wednesday evening in New York City, the Grammy-winning artist accepted the Music Innovator Award at WSJ Magazine‘s Innovator Awards ceremony — and took the opportunity to ruffle rich people’s feathers during her acceptance speech.
“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,” Eilish addressed the audience. “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.”
“Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me,” she continued. “If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.”
Eilish wasn’t kidding about the composition of the crowd: billionaire Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was attendance, and an eyewitness told People that Zuck was visibly peeved, failing to clap alongside other wealthy honorees and audience members including Hailey Beiber, Spike Lee and George Lucas.
She’s also putting her money where her mouth is. Stephen Colbert, who presented her with the award, shared that Eilish “will be donating proceeds from her Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour to support organizations, projects and voices dedicated to food equity, climate justice, reducing carbon pollution and combating the climate crisis. That donation, ladies and gentlemen, will be $11.5 million.”
Eilish has an estimated net worth somewhere in the realm of $50 million, while Zuckerberg is the third richest person in the world with a fortune of $264 billion. For context, the US Department of Education’s budget was $268 billion in 2024 before president Trump signed an order to dismantle it earlier this year.
For what it’s worth, it’s not exactly clear Zuckerberg why might have been put out by Eilish’ remarks, since his charitable contributions have been formidable. The Meta CEO was in attendance to support his wife Priscilla Chan, in fact, who was presented with the Philanthropy in Science Innovator award for her work at the couple’s Zuckerberg Chan Initiative. A decade ago, the duo pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook shares over their lifetime.
Maybe it was her implication: that as much as billionaires might donate to good causes, their very existence — and the pitiful taxes they pay — symbolize the world’s shameful and growing gap between the rich and the poor.
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