Billie Eilish used her acceptance of the Music Innovator Award at the WSJ. Magazine Innovator Awards on Oct. 29, 2025, to publicly urge the ultrawealthy to share their fortunes, quipping onstage, “If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.” The remark landed in a room that included Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and prompted mixed applause while an eyewitness said Zuckerberg did not join in the laughter.
Eilish backed her appeal with action: host Stephen Colbert announced she would donate $11.5 million from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour to groups focused on food equity, climate justice and reducing carbon pollution, a pledge framed by reporters as part of her broader activism on climate and social issues. Coverage noted the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative’s own multibillion-dollar philanthropic commitments when observers contrasted private giving with public calls for wealth redistribution.
