What a night!

Lady Gaga joins 5 former U.S. presidents in Aggieland for hurricane relief concert

Lady Gaga poses with former presidents Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, George HW Bush, George W Bush, and BIll Clinton at hurricane relief fundraiser

Lada Gaga posed with former presidents Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, George HW Bush, George W Bush, and BIll Clinton.

Instagram/@LadyGaga

The five living former presidents put aside politics and appeared together for the first time since 2013 at a concert on Saturday to raise money for victims of devastating hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Democrats Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Republicans George H.W. and George W. Bush gathered in College Station, home of Texas A&M University, to try to unite the country after the storms.

Texas A&M is home to the presidential library of the elder Bush. At 93, he has a form of Parkinson's disease and appeared in a wheelchair at the event. His wife, Barbara, and George W. Bush's wife, Laura, were in the audience.

Grammy award winner Lady Gaga made a surprise appearance at the concert that also featured country music band Alabama, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer 'Soul Man' Sam Moore, gospel legend Yolanda Adams and Texas musicians Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen.

The appeal backed by the ex-presidents has raised $31 million since it began on September 7, said Jim McGrath, spokesman for George H.W. Bush.

Backstage, celebrity makeup artist Edward Sanchez had a close-up view of the proceedings. The Los Angeles-based organizers of the event called Sanchez for help and he drove from Houston to College Station at 4 am Saturday to get entertainer Larry Gatlin ready for an appearance on FOX News. Sanchez also worked to prepare Lyle Lovett; the band members of Alabama; Cassadee Pope, the season three winner of NBC’s The Voice: and rising country artist Stephanie Quayle, for their concert appearances.

In addition to meeting the presidents, Sanchez made friends with Secret Service agents who were swarming the arena with all the notables around, and even received a special badge. "It was just an amazing event," Sanchez said. "It was the best experience of my life."

For more coverage of the big night in College Station, read the full story from our partners at ABC13 and check the video below.

CultureMap editor-in-chief Clifford Pugh contributed to this report.

Lada Gaga posed with former presidents Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, George HW Bush, George W Bush, and BIll Clinton.

Instagram/@LadyGaga

Lada Gaga posed with former presidents Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, George HW Bush, George W Bush, and BIll Clinton.

fundraisers

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”