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Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Over Namibia?
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have made a $100,000 donation to the Daniel Pearl Foundation in memory of the American journalist who was kidnapped and eventually killed in Pakistan in February of 2002, PEOPLE magazine reports. The gift, made through the recently formed Jolie-Pitt Foundation, was presented on Tuesday, which would have been the late Wall Street Journal reporter's 43rd birthday. Pitt and Jolie arrived last week in Pune, India, to film the Pearl biopic, A Mighty Heart, based on the book written by the journalist's widow, Mariane Pearl, whom Jolie portrays in the film. At the time of his death, Pearl was investigating links between the terrorist group Al Qaeda and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. Meanwhile, all is not well in Namibia, where Jolie-Pitts pledged $315,000 to a local pre-school and the maternity wards at the Swakopmund and Walvis Bay hospitals. A recent visit to the Mondesa Resettlement Community by a British TV crew revealed only 15k was given.. Robert Myres, a spokesman for the Mondesa Youth Organization, a local charity untouched by the couple's munificence, says, "It is not clear to me if [the DRC School] received the money or not, but I can say that if they did, it is not apparent. The pre-school looks exactly as it has since it was built a few years ago—there has been no apparent upgrades or additions to the facility." |
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Comments
I guess they only care about whatever cause is fashionable at the moment. Typical Hollywood people, how sad.
DianasCouch
Posted by: DianasCouch | October 12, 2006 10:34 AM
Strikes me as ironic, living in luxury and talking about the poor as if they actually understand it. Her statement that the dollars she makes allows her to donate and help the impoverished, there are a lot of people out there who do the same work, and do not fly in private jets and stay at expensive hotels. Give me a break.
Posted by: Charles | October 12, 2006 11:35 AM
I hope the bosh will at least print a retraction, even if it could not be bothered checking its facts. Lainey of Lainey Gossip did. Isn't it amazing? A gossip columnits bothers to check what a reputable tabloid can't be bothered doing? You can get to lainey's blog here:
www.laineygossip.com/ArticleList.aspx
The Pitts: No Fishy Philanthropy
Reference articles here here and here.
A few days ago, Radar Online printed a story about the Chosen Family's suspect Namibian donation. I referenced the article on Wednesday with information from sources of my own, sources who were skeptical about the piece and who advised caution before accusing the Pitts of reneging on their philanthropic obligations - serious allegations, non?
At the urging of a few readers, I contacted Ivanna Iafigliola-Kriner, co-founder of the DRC School Project & Community Centre, the very school that the Pitts are alleged to have stiffed in the Radar article. I asked Ms Kriner the following: I have heard from many of my readers indicating that you have refuted the Radar Online claims and I am writing to find out from you directly if the US$15,000 was received by the DRC.
Ms Kriner: Yes we did receive the donation and are very grateful to Angelina and Brad for their support.
Point of the story?
The Pitts aren't cheap. They didn't bail on Namibia. But in a country where the need is so great and only so much can be pledged, it's entirely understandable for other organisations to try to reach out as much as they can.
For more information on the DRC click here. For more information on Ivanna Iafigliola-Kriner click here and my thanks to Carol for the tip.
Reported On 13/10/2006
Posted by: Lainey | October 15, 2006 10:15 AM