Singer Nelly Furtado donating $1 million from Gaddafi bash
By IANSMonday, February 28, 2011
TORONTO - Canadian pop star Nelly Furtado, who says she was paid $1 million to perform for Muammar Gaddafi and his family at a hotel in Italy in 2007, is donating the money to charity.
According to the New York Times, the Gaddafi clan has been spending as lavishly on entertainers as they have on weapons in recent years.
Beyonce and Usher reportedly performed for Gaddafi’s son Muatassim at this year’s New Year eve party on the Caribbean island of St. Barts.
A year earlier, Seif al-Islam el-Gaddafi, another Gaddafi son, also paid Mariah Carey $1 million to sing just four songs at the New Year bash, the paper said last week.
Though most pop stars have kept quiet about taking huge sums of money from the embattled Libyan leader, Furtado Monday admitted on her Twitter that she pocketed $1 million for entertaining the Gaddafi family in 2007.
On her Twitter account, the Canadian singing star wrote that she gave a private show for the family of the Libyan leader four years ago.
“In 2007, I was paid $1 million by the (Gaddafi) clan to play a 45-minute show for guests at a hotel in Italy,” she said in her tweet message. “I am going to donate this (money).”
A representative of Universal Music, Furtado’s label, confirmed the tweet Monday, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Furtado had a baby girl Nevis with her Indian-origin boyfriend DJ Jasper Gahunia in 2003.
