Apology rendered
Beyoncé loses Qaddafi connection with Haitian donation
Looks like I owe Beyoncé an apology.
Last year reports surfaced that she rang in New Year's Eve in 2009 by performing at a party in St. Barts thrown by Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi's son, Moutassim.
With Bey earning a reported $87 million in the year prior, I thought it was bad form to perform for a violent dictator's son — even when the gig pays a cool $2 million.
Now Qaddafi is back in the international headlines as his violent attempts to retain power create civil war in Libya, and many are questioning Beyoncé and other celebrities who have been publicly associated with his family.
Reactions have been mixed — Nelly Furtado has pledged to donate her $1 million performance fee to charity, while Mariah Carey is just calling the experience "embarrassing."
But Beyoncé says she is in the clear because she donated her entire fee to humanitarian efforts in Haiti at the time of the performance.
"All monies paid to Beyoncé 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 for Haiti, over a year ago," said Yvette Noel-Schure, Beyoncé's publicist, in a statement released on her website. "Once it became known that the third party promoter was linked to the Qaddafi family, the decision was made to put that payment to a good cause."
What's curious is that Beyoncé never bothered to report the connection between her performance and her Haiti donation before, so in theory she could have donated her own money (generously) to Haiti, and is now using that to distance herself.
But I'll give her a break and assume her statement is mostly factual. Donating money to charity is great, but next time let's just make sure there aren't any dictators throwing the party before you book, okay B?
