A-list 'charity' event I volunteered at was mostly a PR shoot

I helped out at a fundraiser in Nashville last month where a big movie star was the host. The whole thing felt off from the start, cameras followed her for 20 minutes while the actual volunteers did all the setup. She talked to donors for maybe 5 minutes total, then left through a side door before the dinner even started. Turns out the event raised $12k, but her team spent more than that on the lighting rig alone. I looked into her past events and they all follow the same pattern, big photo op, tiny real impact. Has anyone else seen this up close with a celebrity charity gig?

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nina_hall4818d ago

My buddy helped set up for some singer's "charity" concert in Atlanta a couple years back. Same exact thing, the singer rolled in two hours late, did a quick walkthrough for her Instagram stories, and bounced before the opening act went live. He said the crew found out later that the venue had comped her entire rider on the condition she did a press meet and greet. She spent more time picking out which side of her face photographed better than she did talking to the actual charity board. The whole thing raised maybe $8k, but her manager bragged about the "exposure" being worth six figures. He quit volunteering for those types of gigs after that, said it was like being a prop in someone's career highlight reel.