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Grammy-winning pop artist Billie Eilish called billionaires out on Wednesday, seemingly to their faces.
“If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but, yeah, give your money away, shorties,” the 23-year-old said during a speech.
Eilish was speaking at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards where she accepted the music innovator award. Shortly before walking on stage at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, comedian Stephen Colbert introduced her by announcing that Eilish will be donating $11.5 million of the proceeds from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour. The money will go toward programs for food equity, climate justice, reducing carbon pollution and combatting the climate crisis, Colbert said.
Eilish then took the opportunity while on stage to encourage others to do the same.
“We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark and people need empathy and help more than kind of ever, especially in our country,” Eilish said. “I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things and maybe give it to some people that need it.”
“Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me.”
Wealth inequality is currently skyrocketing. According to a 2023 Oxfam report, the world’s richest one per cent hold 45.6 per cent of global wealth. The report also found that 81 billionaires enjoyed more wealth than 50 per cent of the world combined at the time of publication.
Among the audience members at Wednesday’s award show sat one of the world’s most notorious ultra-rich people: Mark Zuckerberg, a proponent of “masculine energy” whose astronomical net worth is in the hundreds of billions.
Zuckerberg reportedly didn’t clap in response to Eilish’s comments, according to People magazine.
Other attendees included Zuckerberg’s wife Priscilla Chan, who also won an award, Spike Lee, Hailey Bieber, Questlove, Adam Scott and Brittany Snow.
Wednesday marks only the latest example of Eilish taking a public political stance. She has also spoken in support of Gaza, Black Lives Matter, veganism and has raised awareness about the climate crisis.
Eilish is one of several Gen Z artists who’ve recently used their platform to call out powerful people. Earlier this year musician Chappell Roan used her Grammy-winning speech to call out record labels for failing to compensate musicians fairly while profiting off their work.