<![CDATA[The Weeknd donates $300,000 to Beirut explosion relief effort]]> https://usagag.com/2020/08/13/the-weeknd-donates-300000-to-beirut-explosion-relief-effort/ Thu, 13 Aug 2020 11:57:55 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com The Weeknd donates $300,000 to Beirut explosion relief effort The Weeknd has been on a philanthropy bender in recent months, with major donations to coronavirus relief, Black Lives Matter and social justice organizations — and on Wednesday he donated $300,000 to Global Aid for Lebanon to assist victims of the horrific explosion in the country’s capital of Beirut on Aug. 4, which killed more than 200 people and destroyed a central area of the city.

The announcement was made on social media by his manager, Wassim “Sal” Slaiby, who with his wife, Rima Fakih, has been mobilizing relief efforts for the country; he also thanked Live Nation for its $50,000 donation. Slaiby and Fakih (a former Miss USA) were both born in Lebanon; he emigrated to The Weeknd’s home country of Canada as a teenager and she to the U.S. as a child. Earlier this week the couple donated $250,000 to the relief fund.

“I am so honored and humbled to work with artist’s who have such deep care for the world and right now for our brothers & sisters of Lebanon who are in pain and need our collective help,” Slaiby wrote. “I want to thank my brother @theweeknd for his generous and class act of donating $300,000 to the Global Aid for Lebanon campaign.

Also, I want to give a special thank you to Michael Rapino @michaelrapino and my Live Nation family for $50,000 donation. Give what you can and let’s repost so the world can come together to help Lebanon from this this devastating tragedy. #GlobalAidForLebanon @glblctzn @lebaneseredcross @wfpusa @wfp_mena @ccclebanon.”

In June, The Weeknd (real name: Abel Tesfaye) donated $200,000 each to Black Lives Matter Global Network and the Colin Kaepernick Know Your Rights Camp Legal Defense Initiative, and $100,000 to National Bail Out. Later in June, he donated $500,000 each to MusiCares’ COVID-19 relief fund and to the front-line hospital workers of Scarborough Health Network, the hospital network in the Ontario city where he was raised. His virtual concert on TikTok last week raised $350,000 for the company’s Equal Justice Initiative.

His Lebanon donation brings his total charitable contributions to some $2.15 million in just over two months.


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I am so honored and humbled to work with artist’s who have such deep care for the world and right now for our brothers & sisters of Lebanon who are in pain and need our collective help.  I want to thank my brother @theweeknd for his generous and class act of donating $300,000 to the Global Aid for Lebanon campaign. Also, I want to give a special thank you to Michael Rapino @michaelrapino and my Live Nation family for $50,000 donation. Give what you can and let’s repost so the world can come together to help Lebanon from this this devastating tragedy. #GlobalAidForLebanon @glblctzn @lebaneseredcross @wfpusa @wfp_mena @ccclebanon

A post shared by Wassim Slaiby – CEO SAL (@salxo) on

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