Lady Gaga is putting on a TV special asking corporations, not viewers, for donations

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When I wrote about Nia Vardalos raising money for nonprofits involved in elief efforts after her father passed, I thought her strategy was a good one: She very specifically encouraged her followers to tag celebrities and nicely ask them to make a donation. She recognized that most of her followers might not have the resources to do that themselves, but knows celebrities have bigger wallets. Lady Gaga is taking a similar approach with her upcoming coronavirus-relief concert. She’s not asking people for donations, though. She’s turning to corporations. Lady Gaga told this to Jimmy Fallon this week in a do-over on his show. She cut her first interview short, but really delivered in this next one. Gaga said she’s isolating with six different people in her office at this time. She thanked all the frontline workers and acknowledged how her situation is much different than most people’s:

While promoting her upcoming coronavirus-relief concert with Global Citizen on “The Tonight Show,” [Gaga] explained why she takes issue with people like herself and host Jimmy Fallon using the unifying phrase of “we’re all in this together” during uncertain times.

“While I think the sentiment is nice, I also think that the fight that I’m in — or that you’re in, right? — is very different than the fight of a woman that is in, perhaps, an abusive relationship and has a child and lost her job and can’t feed her kid and can’t feed herself and also can’t get the help that she needs because she’s in a violent situation,” Gaga said while video-chatting with Fallon on Monday.

While Gaga didn’t name anyone in particular, among the well-meaning stars who have adopted the familiar rhetoric in their respective solidarity PSAs are “Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot and her “Imagine” team, “The Late Show’s” Stephen Colbert, the casts of CBS TV series and the original “High School Musical” ensemble, who reunited recently on social media to promote social distancing.

The “Chromatica” artist’s feelings echo those of many who have expressed their frustration online with the rich and famous as they continue to send missives of love and support from the comfort of their luxury homes. . . .

One way in which the “A Star Is Born” actress is committing herself to the cause is through Global Citizen’s “One World: Together At Home” concert — featuring Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Stevie Wonder, J Balvin, Kacey Musgraves and many more — which she curated to celebrate the hard work of healthcare workers and others on the frontlines of the public health emergency.

Gaga stopped by the late-night programs of Fallon, Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel on Monday to raise awareness for the event and Global Citizen’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. All three comedians are also set to participate as co-hosts of the forthcoming April 18 broadcast.

[From the L.A. Times]

She also talked about the importance of being kind, being self aware and having gratitude. While it’s not explicit in this article, Lainey points out that Gaga is asking corporations for donations, and not people. She said “it’s not a telethon, put away your wallets. We’re already at $35 million dollars.” I think it’s a fantastic idea to raise more money for everyone who is doing the dangerous work on the frontlines of this crisis, and it’s even better to ask for donations from corporations (or their CEOs), that have enormously deep pockets that the rest of us don’t.

Here’s the first part of Gaga’s interview.

And here’s the second part, where she announces the concert and all the big names involved including Sesame Street characters, and so many musicians! She also Facetimes Apple CEO Tim Cook, getting him to confirm that Apple is donating $10 million to the cause.

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18 Responses to “Lady Gaga is putting on a TV special asking corporations, not viewers, for donations”

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  1. Branvoyage says:

    Awesome! I love it when celebrities use their platform to do good for the world.

  2. Jerusha says:

    I saw the segment she did with Colbert and thought she looked so pretty as herself without all the sparkle and glitter. Plus, hurrah for what she’s doing. It should raise a lot more money that way. I’ll watch.

  3. Valiantly Varnished says:

    That’s awesome. So many people accuse Gaga of being vapid or not in touch and I think she’s proven with a lot of her charity work that that isn’t the case. THIS is far more impactful than a sing along to Imagine.

    • TIFFANY says:

      Agreed. I know she can be extra and performative ( hello, she is a pop artist) but I believe heart is in the right place.

    • Otaku fairy says:

      Yeah. It’s a good thing to be able to acknowledge that women can be more than their flaws, even when we don’t particularly like them or if we have legitimate problems with them. It’s not good to be in a place where we want to avoid/ dismiss/hide good things done in order to ‘win’ feuds against the ones we want taken down a peg, or in order to uphold one-dimensional, stereotypical narratives about them and their group(s). Especially if that’s the opposite of what we do with male/ white male liberals. That’s the behavior you sometimes see with toxic fandoms/communities- I’ve seen places do it with Angelina and a lot of others they don’t like. Good for Lady Gaga.

  4. Lucy2 says:

    Good for her- I like this!

  5. Meg says:

    I love this because when we have many bad storms and a bad virus like this-bad leadership has a huge hand in the length of those disasters. Unpredictable weather patterns are part of global warming and our country is the only one who pulled out of the Paris climate agreement. Many big businesses don’t do their part to protect the environment yet individuals donate during disasters out of kindness when I’m thinking we pay our taxes unlike Amazon and like the 2016 election most of us voted for a candidate who believes we need to protect the earth why should we pay for disaster relief when we already did our part? I fear big businesses and the corrupt government hopes individuals pay to help problems like that so they don’t have to

  6. Lexluthorbalck says:

    American needs to revoke the tax give away to the rich instead. It is more effective to have social net provided by the government through taxes instead of the piecemeal attempts with charities. The American system is flawed.

  7. Lama Bean says:

    Can I just say I absolutely love Gaga in glasses?

  8. sassafras says:

    THANK YOU Gaga! I’ve felt so weird about so many of the fundraisers out there. How is it MY job to save the music industry or the restaurant industry? Seems to me Coors or Budweiser or any number of corporations have more cash on hand and have a bigger stake in these places. I’m doing my part, sure, and trying to order in but I only ever ate out once a week and my income has shrank to nearly nothing. Maybe I’ll get dragged for this but definitely celebs and corporations (who are people too, according to the US Supreme Court) should be donating more.

  9. Dee Kay says:

    I love this idea of a free concert sponsored by Apple and other corps, especially because my all-time fave Paul McCartney will be performing!

  10. Awkward symphony says:

    I’ll be honest and say that I’ve not paid much attention to her since that outrageous meat dress & unless her songs come on the radio but my I have new found respect for this lady. Performance aside, she has such a big heart and seems so down to earth. How did I miss this??!!! Bravo on raising 35+mil in 7days. If that’s what she did in 7days can you imagine what MORE she could do. I bow to you lady gaga. Thank you for using your platform for helping & uplifting others❤

  11. EveV says:

    I agree with everybody’s sentiments x1000.. Also, Sassafras, I don’t think you will get dragged for those views, not here anyway, as you are absolutely right…. I just wish this story had gotten more attention/comments, as it’s an important one. This is so needed, especially with federal authorities stealing state supplies!!??

  12. Fi says:

    I love Lady Gaga. She truly cares. She knows she’s privileged and is using that to raise millions. She quietly donated a really generous sum to my friends charity a few years ago and I know what a difference it made for them. She is super talented too. I have no issue with her costumes, it’s all part of her show. She’s a once in a generation artist who can go from being weird as hell dressed in a meat dress to blowing the roof off at her piano. Look at her tributes to Sting and Stevie wonder. And of course the sound of music tribute at the Oscars. She’s so above her peers.