Nelly Furtado To Donate $1 Million From Gadhafi Family Concert

From: www.cnn.com

By CHRIS BARTH

Nelly Furtado
Pop singer Nelly Furtado will donate the money she earned at a private 2007 concert for the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi to charity, she announced on Twitter earlier today. The announcement comes hot on the heels of a New York Times report yesterday that mined WikiLeaks cables to reveal that Mariah Carey, Usher, and Beyonce had all been employed by the Gadhafi family.
“In 2007, I received 1million$ from the Qaddafi clan to perform a 45 min. Show for guests at a hotel in Italy. I am going to donate the $” read Furtado’s tweet.
The move is a preemptive one from Furtado, as she had not been named in the Times’ report. Rather than wait for a potential revelation, the pop star chose to get ahead of the news with a more positive story. The move puts pressure on other artists to follow her lead, while simultaneously insinuating that the list of performers may be more extensive than originally thought. A story on Mediaite, for example, claims that Lindsay Lohan, Russell Simons, Jay-Z, Jon Bon Jovi and L.A. Reid were all involved in a Gadhafi family concert with Beyonce on New Years Eve two years ago.
Nelly Furtado, perhaps best known for singing the hook on Timbaland’s “Promiscuous,” first hit pop gold with “I’m Like A Bird” in 2000. In 2008, she ranked 26th on Forbes’ list of Top Earning Women In Music, taking in $7 million.
Reactions by Furtado’s followers on Twitter run the gamut, although almost all take a supportive tone of some sort. Many applaud the singer – “Extremely happy to hear that @NellyFurtado will return $1mil paid to her by #Gaddafi clan to help #libyan people #libya #feb17,” reads a Top Tweet from @Libyansrevolt – while others encourage her to keep the money she earned.
“Don’t feel pressured re $ frm private show. Perhaps we shd make American Co’s return their billions from their support of same,” says one user.
As of now, Furtado has not announced to what organization or organizations she will donate the money.