Pop star Billie Eilish stood before a crowd of business titans and spotlight-steered celebrities at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards held at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and used the moment of recognition to issue a pointed appeal: if you hold immense wealth, consider redirecting it toward the world’s pressing crises. As she accepted the Music Innovator Award, she announced that she would be donating $11.5 million from her “Hit Me Hard and Soft” tour to initiatives around food equity, climate justice and reducing carbon pollution. She told the assembled audience, “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… if you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.” The remark, delivered in the presence of some of the richest people in the room, drew applause and laughter, and underscored a growing tension over private-wealth responsibility. In the glamorous surroundings of the gala, amid custom cocktails and a purple carpet, Eilish reframed her award not as a personal triumph but as a call to action for those who hold disproportionate power to use it in service of others.
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