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| Photo by Jared eberhardt. |
Get ready for it: the free-spirited love and acceptance of Coachella is in question.
Yesterday, its as revealed that the owner of the company that produces Coachella uses profits to fund anti-LGBTQ and anti-climate change groups.
Yep, when you don your flower crown and rock out to Beyoncé (does SHE know about this? Probably not! Beyoncé! You are better than this!) you are helping fund groups the work against the rights of LGBTQ individuals AND groups that fight climate change efforts.
Maybe?
Ugh, I hate it when things aren't black and white.
So, after these reports came out, Philip Anschutz, the man in question, released a statement in The Rolling Stone saying that he supports a number of charities and does not discriminate and none of the charities he "supports the rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation."
He also claimed that whenever he found out his foundation was supporting dubious charities they immediately cut off that support.
It looks like we have one of three potential scenarios:
1) Philip Anschutz has a foundation that donates to a wide variety of causes, as many wealthy people do. He wasn't on top of everything they were donating to, and later found out that some of the charities they gave to were actually anti-LGBTQ or anti-climate change. When he found out this was happening, he immediately cancelled that support, horrified that his organization had gone down that path at all, and maybe yelled at a few people.
2) Philip Anschutz USED to be anti-LGBTQ and anti-climate change, and happily funded those efforts. Then later realized that he was wrong, or that it was bad PR, and stopped quietly, hoping no one would notice.
3) Philip Anschutz is currently anti-LGBTQ and anti-climate change and has tried to quietly fund these initiatives as much as he could, without damaging the reputation of his company. Then, just now, when reports came out about it, he ceased the support.
All three of these scenarios could be true, although if he's not lying, then scenarios one and two are most likely.
So that's actually pretty okay. Coachella is a bit marred, perhaps, but not ruined.
To be safe, I propose that his foundation gets watched with hawklike vigilance for a while to see if he "accidentally" starts supporting a terrible cause again. In the meantime, feel free to buy your $400 tickets (and see BEYONCÉ!!!) and party on with loving and open, but cautious, hearts.
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