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Artist News
Beyonce and Mariah speak about Gaddafi gigs
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 4 March 2011
Earlier this week Nelly Furtado announced that she would donate the $1 million fee she received for playing the Gaddafi family’s annual New Years party on the island of St Barts back in 2007 to charity, after the shock revelation that the family’s patriarch, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, is a bit controversial. Who knew?
As well as Furtado, Beyonce, Usher and Mariah Carey have all played at the Gaddafi family’s annual New Years bash in recent years, and pressure mounted on them this week to follow Furtado’s lead. Now Beyonce has revealed that she got shot of that dirty cash ages ago, while Carey says the whole thing is very embarrassing.
Beyonce’s publicist Yvette Noel-Schure said in a statement: “All monies paid to Beyonce for her performance at a private party at Nikki Beach St Barts on New Year’s Eve 2009, including the commissions paid to her booking agency, were donated to the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti over a year ago. Once it became known that the third party promoter was linked to the Gaddafi family, the decision was made to put that payment to a good cause”.
Meanwhile, Carey told Associated Press: “I was naive and unaware of who I was booked to perform for. I feel horrible and embarrassed to have participated in this mess. Going forward, this is a lesson for all artists to learn from. We need to be more aware and take more responsibility regardless of who books our shows. Ultimately, we as artists are to be held accountable”.
As for whether she would be donating her fee to charity, Carey’s rep, Cindi Berger, said the singer already donates lots of money to charity, thank you very much: “Mariah has and continues to donate her time, money and countless hours of personal service to many organisations both here and abroad”.
Usher, who also performed at a Gaddafi New Year show, and 50 Cent, who played a gig for the dictator at the 2005 Venice Film Festival, are yet to comment on what they may or may not do with their fees.
