Beyonce, Mariah, Usher, Pressured to Give Away Qaddafi Money

By Tracey Harrington McCoy Posted Feb 28th 2011 07:50PM

Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Usher and 50 Cent are among the artists being pressured to return money received after performing for Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi and his family members, RollingStone.com reports.

Carey reportedly was paid $1 million to sing for Qaddafi's son, Muatassim, Libya's national-security adviser, at a New Year's Eve party on St. Barts in 2008. 50 Cent performed for Qaddafi's son in 2005, and Beyonce and Usher performed at a party in 2009 -- all for undisclosed sums of money.

"If it were me, it would go to charity," Buck Williams, agent for R.E.M. and Widespread Panic, told Rolling Stone. David T. Viecelli, agent for Arcade Fire added, "Hopefully donate it to a charity that somehow assists some of the people who have suffered at the hands of that regime."

Nelly Furtado announced Monday on Twitter that she intends to donate the $1 million she earned in 2007 performing for Qaddafi's family. "In 2007, I received 1million$ from the Qaddafi clan to perform a 45 min. Show for guests at a hotel in Italy," the singer tweeted. "I am going to donate the $."

Following an uprising leaving 1,000 Libyans dead, the Obama Administration has asked Qaddafi to step down after 40 years of rule.

Why would such prominent artists play for such a controversial family? R.E.M. agent Williams suggests some might not have known whom they were playing for. "Ninety percent of the time the artist has no clue... But the majority of my artists, if they knew something was funded by Qaddafi, they would not play it, and morally it would not rest well with them."

"I don't think most artists go into [performing at a party like this] with that kind of in-depth focus, [of] how each country is governed and what goes on inside each country," sums up Dennis Arfa, agent for Metallica, Billy Joel and Rod Stewart. "Not every artist is a humanitarian. In more cases than not, for people, greed rules."

Tags: Beyonce, mariah carey, nelly furtado

Comments

(49)

Monday 28 February

By jahboyz3

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So I guess Robin Thicke and Eminem will be performing for them next huh? LOL

By ktp

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I wouldn't give it back whats the point

By JANET

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THATS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, I'M GOING STRAIGHT TO THE BANK...ENOUGH SAID

By Missy Schultz

What were they doing performing for them in the first place? Boycott Them!

By Al

And how much money over the years has this country given to dictators like Qaddafi? Same thing. And we have no idea how much Qaddafi has given to people who are not entertainers. And I agree with the agents, most likely these entertainers didn't know anything about Qaddafi and how he ruled his regime. So stop the hating on the R&B folks [i.e. Black]!

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There is no way they did not know. Gadaffi is very well known. The name is recognizable.

Wednesday 02 March

By flutterby9322

I agreed with everything you said until you put the "ie black" in there. Why ya gotta make everything racial?

Tuesday 01 March

By Claudia

True Al. This government does the same thing. Look at all the money they were giving to Mubaruk for the past 30 years. If they don't know who they are giving money to we are truly in trouble. Instead of giving that money overseas to dictators it should be used for the people in this country who are hurting.

By Makaveli

Are You Surprised that these Illuminati Puppets perform for a Dictator who slaughtered thousands of people. What a shock. Try and listen to artists with a message like Makaveli or Immortal Technique, Krs-One, So on... so forth.

WHO?

By Will

What's the point in giving the money away? Why not scold Sears for selling a refrigerator to Jeffery Dahmer while we're at it? It's all blood money anyway. Just because it touches a few more hands along the way doesn't make it any cleaner.

By kemare2

Thank you money is money there is no reason to give it up

By ernesto

He gave Bush 40 Million for oil rights

By ROB & JESS

what is this about giving it to charities, donate it to the ppl of libya who are currently struggling to even provide food,,,what a shame,,and yes they might of known at the time of performance but now that they do,,their actions will speak much of their character...

By G

Just can't believe how hypocritical the entertainment industry is: they beg us to give our money to all these charities and disasters while they are secretly out earning MILLIONS for MINUTES of singing and entertaining? What a joke all of them are. Totally lost interest in all of them. yeah, give it to charity -- the ones where their parents were murdered, their limbs blown off, the ones who witnessed and experienced torture, the women who are treated like cows -- HOW DID these lady singers NOT know? I just don't buy they do not know who they sing for. I doubt they do anything they don't know about. Very sad. What ultimate greed. Don't want to hear another entertainer telling me how to vote or where to put my hard earned unemployment dollars!

By Terri

Beyonce, Ursher, Nelly or anyone with a giving heart. If you would like to donate any money to me. Please e-mail me. I lost my job after 28 years, Im a hard worker, would love to have another job. I could really use some Help. Thank you Blessings...

By Ted Bundy

You've been out of work for 28 years? LOL, get a job lazyas*, no excuse for that even with this bad economy. Milking unemployment huh? If you were a good worker, you wouldn't be out of a job for 28 years. My nephew is autism and even he has a job at a pizza diner LOL.

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I cant stand when people tell celebrities to donate there money they earned it i see no point in giving away money you earned to so country you dont eve care about