Benefit concert One Love Malibu took place in Calabasas last Sunday, raising almost $1M for victims of the devastating Woosley fire. Among those performing at the event were Gwen Stefani, Joe Walsh, Robin Thicke and Katy Perry. Katy also auctioned a date with her boyfriend, Orlando Bloom. She really sold it, emphasizing that the highest bidder would get to ride on the back of Orlando’s motorcycle, clinging on to his abs as they wound their way up the Malibu coast. Katy even sweetened the deal by throwing in lunch when she realized it wasn’t included. And then she took it all back by outbidding everyone to keep the date for herself.
No need for Katy Perry to be a jealous girlfriend; She just outbid a fan for a date with Orlando Bloom. The 34-year-old singer bid $50,000 to go out with the English actor at the One Love Malibu benefit show on Sunday night (Dec. 2). The two have dated in the past — and although they haven’t explicitly addressed the current state of their relationship, they have been seen in public together recently.
Perry performed “Roar,” “By the Grace of God” and “Firework” at the show in King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, Calif. to raise money to support those affected by the devastating Woolsey wildfire. She later stepped up to the stage to auction off a date with Bloom that included a motorcycle ride and lunch she threw in on the spot.
“You’re holding him in a way that I am not excited about,” she quipped about the prize. “You’re holding his pecs and his six-pack — and it’s so glorious! You get to hold on to Orlando for about 45 minutes… and then, you get to stare into his brown eyes!”
One excited fan bid $20,000 on the experience, but Perry decided to out-do the highest bidder. “Laura, I’m sorry. I’m buying it for $50,000,” she said, dropping her mic onto the stage and walking off.
Not surprisingly, Katy is getting a large amount of backlash for pulling such a seemingly petty move. People want to know why she’d hype the date so much only to take it away. They’re also asking why couldn’t she let Laura have the date and donate the $50K independently.
Katy Perry is still the WORST even at a charity event pic.twitter.com/iPTtu4894R
— Chicks in the Office (@ChicksInTheOff) December 5, 2018
that katy perry mess is so embarrassing, wtf is wrong with that woman
— kat (@Coolguyreiner) December 5, 2018
@katyperry: Why not just donate the 50k just because and let Laura win the date for 20k, thereby raising 70k. But petty will do what petty will do I guess.
— Lindsey Smith, Esq. (@Lindsey_Esq) December 4, 2018
What Katy Perry did wasn’t cool & her insecurity regarding her relationship with Orlando Bloom is showing #katyperry #sorryLaura
— 🍪🍼Cry Baby Fan🍼🍪 (@candyfrostheart) December 3, 2018
I have a completely different take on all of this. I don’t think this was a joke or pettiness – I think Katy took a bullet to save Orlando’s ego. If you watch the whole thing, below, they were struggling for bids. There’s even moment of just silence. Katy had hyped this up, emphasizing the sexiness of the situation and then all they got was one taker on their opening bid. And even that took some doing. No matter why the item wasn’t attracting bids, it’s highly embarrassing for Orlando. I think the whole thing, Katy outbidding, dropping the mic – it was all to make it look like she’d stolen the date and not like Orlando was a low-ticket item. If I am at all correct, I’ve got to give this to Katy. She’s getting creamed online and I’m sure she knew she would. I’m fairly convinced we will hear a story somewhere down the line of Orlando reaching out to Laura and maybe taking her to lunch.
Photo credit: Getty Images, Twitter and WENN Photos
Ya, I don’t get the outrage, even if she wasn’t trying to salvage the moment she outbid the other woman. Of all the people I’m going to worry about wounding, someone who can throw down 20 grand for a date is pretty far down the list…
Why would anyone pay that much for a date with Orlando Bloom past his days of glory? Why not a date (in much less creepier way) with Katy?
I think your point about saving embarrassment is probably accurate. I think opening at 20k was the mistake. It’s not peek Legolas/Will Turner era. Orlando is an attractive man, but the time of him being the it man is over.
I completely agree with this. And it’s actually pretty sweet of her, honestly.
Now, if I was a billionaire I’d bid the crap out of it just to bombard him with a million lotr questions haha.
Agreed. If this were indeed the Legolas/WT days a bidding war would have erupted instantly, fetching a lot more than 20k (or Katy’s 50). Like you said, he’s still a handsome man but his peak hotness unfortunately faded long ago.
I agree with you. I work for an auction company and the number 1 mistake is setting the opening bid too high. Gotta start lower and build momentum!
Kind of sad that Orlando only got one bid. I do agree Katy did it to make him look better. Besides I’ve seen others win bids when their significant other were up for auction. I think Katy is being attacked because of the recent Lady Gaga/Kesha texts.
Those texts were so damning for Perry!
My heart goes out to Kesha. Interesting Katy only refused to work with Dr Luke on Witness because “at this time it would not be received well”.
She doesn’t seem to care he was accused of rape, but the public reception in the current climate.
Also, hilarious they both described her as “mean” …. Maybe Taylor Swift was onto
something…
I don’t think the texts and transcripts are damning for Perry at all. She got dragged into something she knows nothing about because Kesha and Lady Gaga were texting each other about a rumour she was raped by Dr Luke.
If it’s true then Kesha and Gaga exposed something incredibly painful and private. If it’s not true, and she says it’s not true, then she’s in a bad situation. She can’t lie, but telling the truth dings Kesha’s case a bit, and so she gets blamed for that. It’s really unfair on her.
I know one of her regular dancers and apparently Katy is lovely and everyone she works with adores her – she treats them all like family. They said she is extremely genuine and down-to-earth and also very generous. Said dancer has also worked for Taylor (and yes, was one of the dancers they had their fight over) and said she seems sweet but is very distant from most of her employees with mountains of security and not much openness so ultimately she is pretty unknowable.
Yeah, Katy was clearly just helping Orlando save face.
I find the hand-wringing over the ‘fan’ pretty funny. It’s not some kid who desperately wanted to meet him, it’s a grown adult with $20,000 to spend on a charity date. I’m quite sure they weren’t devastated by this. Given how hard it was to even get that bid, I expect the woman simply wanted to donate a large amount and decided they might as well bid on this.
I think it was her trying to save his ego. The bidding should had started at a normal level and let it go from there. I saw the video and the lack of interest was awkward. I don’t get the outrage. People lose their heads nowadays for the simplest things.
I think many of us would have to be paid to go on the date by Orlando.
I agree with your take on this. Who would want to pay for a date with Bloom? He is well behind his days of glory. I even feel a bit bad for her. She is the more famous in the relationship, mkre successful and relevant. She is ready to take a hit for him. Makes you think of all the ways women have to bend over backwards so men feel like masters in their relationships.
I think she did it to save his ego.
Date auctions were a thing when I was in college. I had a friend agree to one, but he planted me in the audience to help drive up his price. It became a bidding war between another girl and myself. I eventually let her win, and he even got upset at that! Apparently, I was supposed to buy him. I can’t even imagine dealing with the ego of a Hollywood actor.
Maybe that’s the price to ensure his fidelity. Lucky Katy Perry. He’s all hers.
I don’t really understand how bidding on your boyfriend in a date auction is petty. Isn’t that the point of these things? Aren’t significant others expected to outbid everyone else? Or maybe I don’t really understand the concept.
I don’t know, she could have “outbid” her and still let the other woman win and get to meet him, and then the charity gets even more?
If she did do it because he wasn’t getting any more bids, that’s pretty embarrassing, but it does sound like they started the bid too high and about 10 years too late.
My take is that this was planned. There would be some bids then Katy would do her bit and outbid everyone else. What made this awkward was that only one woman bid and Katy floundered with her joke and the whole thing just ended up looking petty and weird.
Orlando rolls like its still 2003 and surrounds himself with people who help him stay that way. Katy was definitely helping him save face.