Posted 4 minutes agoSubscribe to BuzzFeed Daily NewsletterCaret Down"If You're A Billionaire, Why Are You A Billionaire?": Billie Eilish Just Called Out Billionaires To Their Faces, And People Are In AweBillie also put her money where her mouth is, donating $11.5 million to a selection of important causes.by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Billie Eilish has won widespread praise after she used her platform at Wednesday night's WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards in New York City to call out billionaires directly to their faces. Taylor Hill / Getty Images For reference, the 23-year-old singer was at the ceremony as she was honored with the Music Innovator Award, with a whole host of other rich and famous names in attendance - including Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, whose wife, Priscilla Chan, was also honored. Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images When she took to the stage to accept her award, Billie said: "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." Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images "And 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," she then told the crowd. "Love you all, but there's a few people in here that have a lot more money than me." Noam Galai / Getty Images "And if you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?" Billie asked. "No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties." Jamie Mccarthy / Getty Images In addition, Billie - who has an estimated net worth of $50 million - put her money where her mouth is, with it being announced elsewhere in the evening that she is donating a staggering $11.5 million of the proceeds from her Hit Me Hard And Soft tour to support organizations fighting for food equity, climate justice, reducing carbon pollution, and combatting the climate crisis. Jamie Mccarthy / Getty Images Needless to say, the whole thing has left people seriously impressed, with one Reddit commenter saying of her speech: "Ballsy. Nice to see a celeb actually stick to their morals when in the room with powerful people." Arturo Holmes / Getty Images "More famous people need to be calling this out," somebody else agreed.
Another wrote: "Good on her for using her platform for good 👏🏻 Respect." Some were also keen to point out the huge difference between millionaires and billionaires, with one writing: "My fav way to put it in perspective 1 million seconds = almost 12 days while 1 billion seconds is 31 years." Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty Images "There are no ethical billionaires," another added. "Hoarding that much is incompatible with kindness, love or basic human decency."And others shared their reaction to her generous donation, with one comment reading: "I can't help but respect Billie even more for this.""It's about making a REAL impact on real lives. Seeing celebs lead by example like this? Hell yeah," somebody else wrote.
While another user jokingly concluded: "She'll never become a billionaire with that attitude." You can watch Billie's speech below - as always, let me know your thoughts in the comments! Billie Eilish: "If you have money, it would be great to use it for good things & 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. And if you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate but give your money away." by u/cmaia1503 in Fauxmoi WSJ / Via reddit.com