Usher said on Friday he’s “sincerely troubled” to learn he appeared at a concert in St. Bart’s linked to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s family and plans donate his concert fee to human rights organizations.
Earlier this week, Mariah Carey, Beyonce and Nelly Furtado all renounced their performances at private concerts later revealed to be linked to the family of Qaddafi, whose country is revolting against him and who faces an investigation for possible war crimes.
All the singers have promised to give their fees to charity or said they have already done so.
Photo: Bloomberg
Usher did not perform but was paid to appear at the private concert featuring Beyonce in 2009.
“I am sincerely troubled to learn about the circumstances surrounding the Nikki Beach St Bart’s event that took place on New Year’s Eve 2009, “ he said in a statement. “I will be donating all of my personal proceeds from that event to various human rights organizations.”
The statement said Usher made a contribution on Friday to Amnesty International, which the organization confirmed. The group said Usher requested the donation amount be private.
Since the uprising in Libya, attention has focused on entertainers paid by the Qaddafi family for private concerts. Furtado acknowledged getting US$1 million, which she promised to give to charity. Beyonce said she donated her fees to Haiti quake relief once she discovered the Qaddafi link.
Carey said she was unaware of whom she was performing for and “embarrassed.” She announced she will donate royalties for the song Save the Day, which she has written for her upcoming album, to charities that promote human-rights awareness.
Though those celebrities seem eager to cut ties with Qaddafi, Sean Penn isn’t abandoning his old buddy Hugo Chavez. The actor thanked the Venezuelan president on Saturday for supporting Penn’s relief organization in Haiti, saying the aid helped humanitarian work distributing medicines.
Chavez met Penn at the presidential palace and praised the actor’s efforts with his J/P Haitian Relief Organization, which was founded in response to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti last year.
The Oscar-winning actor noted that in addition to Venezuela’s financial help, his organization has also received support from the US military.
Penn called that ironic, adding: “We hope that this kind of collaboration can be an example for future approaches to many other issues” — in spite of limited US-Venezuelan diplomatic contacts.
Penn has met four times with Chavez in recent years. Chavez has praised the actor for his critical stance toward US foreign policy.
Moving north, Grammy-winning US pop singer Christina Aguilera was arrested in Hollywood for being intoxicated and held overnight “for her well-being,” police said on Tuesday last week.
The singer was booked for public intoxication after her boyfriend’s car was stopped and he was arrested for alleged drunk driving, said a local sheriff’s department spokesman, Steve Whitmore.
The car, in which Aguilera was allegedly riding, was stopped at around 2:45am near a west Hollywood night club, and Aguilera was taken into the local sheriff’s office.
She was released around 7:30am, said the spokesman, adding the star will not have to make a court appearance. Her boyfriend, Matthew Rutler, was booked and his bail was at US$5,000, he said.
Whitmore said she was detained under a rule allowing police, “when people are incapacitated, and they cannot fend for themselves, [to] take them into custody but for the express purpose of their safety, not for any criminal intent.”
She was not required to post bail, he said. “But there is a record of this, meaning that she will have a misdemeanor arrest for public intoxication on her record. But there will be no prosecution,” he added.
In other road safety news from California, actor David Arquette’s Cadillac crashed head-on with another vehicle in Beverly Hills on Friday, but the actor was not seriously hurt.
Arquette, 39, was “OK” after the crash, and was on his way to being treated, publicist Cindy Guagenti told reporters in an e-mail.
“I got into a car accident but I’m fine. Luckily I have dragon’s blood running through my veins,” Arquette quipped on his Twitter account about two hours after the accident.
Arquette apparently deleted that Tweet. It did not appear on his page later Friday night, but several others referring to the crash did.
“Remember to wear your seatbelt — wish I was,” he said in one.
Another read: “It was a miracle the woman I hit was uninjured — Thank God!”
Arquette said that he was headed to the airport to catch a plane to Las Vegas for a friend’s restaurant opening at the time of the crash on Doheny Drive just north of Santa Monica Boulevard along the West Hollywood and Beverly Hills city limits.
Arquette and the other driver were the only two people involved, Beverly Hills police and fire officials said.
Both were taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with injuries that were not considered serious.
Arquette, who has spoken publicly about his struggles with substance abuse, said last week on The Oprah Winfrey Show that he has been sober since Dec. 30. He wrote on Friday that he turned down drugs at the hospital after the crash.
“Refused all pain medication — may the record state — still sober!” he Tweeted.— AGENCIES
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