June 2 (UPI) — Music superstars The Weeknd and Drake have each donated $100,000 to National Bail Out.
The Weeknd, 30, and Drake, 33, gave to the organization Monday after singer-songwriter Mustafa the Poet encouraged them to donate. Mustafa the Poet himself gave $400.
“MY TORONTO KINGS @champagnepapi @theweeknd SWIPE UP & MATCH MY DONATION BUT ADD 3 ZEROS! LETS HELP REUNITE BLACK FAMILIES,” he tweeted Monday.
National Bail Out is a black-led collective working to end pre-trial detention, specifically for black women.
Mustafa the Poet, 23, shared a screenshot of The Weeknd’s $100,000 receipt, while Drake posted his own receipt on Instagram Stories.
The Weeknd gave an additional $200,000 to the Black Lives Matter Global Network and $200,000 to the Colin Kaepernick Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative, bringing his donations to $500,000 in total.
“keep supporting our brothers and sisters out there risking everything to push for actual change for our black lives. Urging everyone with big pockets to give and give big and if you have less please give what you can even if it’s a small amount #blacklivesmatter,” he wrote Monday on Instagram.
Other celebrities have donated to organizations supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died last week in Minneapolis, Minn., while being restrained by a police officer who knelt on his neck.
On Saturday, model and television personality Chrissy Teigen pledged to give $100,000 to help bail out protestors demonstrating over Floyd’s death. She doubled the amount to $200,000 after being criticized on Twitter.
Celebrity couple Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds said Sunday on Instagram that they donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The actress and actor expressed regret for past ignorance and said they want to use their “privilege and platform to be an ally” going forward.
“We’re ashamed that in the past we’ve allowed ourselves to be uninformed about how deeply rooted systemic racism is,” the pair said. “We look back and see so many mistakes which have led us to deeply examine who we are and who we want to become. They’ve led us to huge avenues of education.”
Singers Janelle Monáe, Harry Styles and Kehlani, and actors Seth Rogan, Don Cheadle and Cynthia Nixon have also donated to organizations. On Saturday, the San Francisco 49ers football team pledged to give $1 million to “local and national organizations who are creating change.”
Other stars showed their support by joining protests across the country. Nick Cannon, Ariana Grande and Tinashe shared photos from demonstrations over the weekend.
