Billie Eilish Has Some Advice for Mark Zuckerberg
Billie Eilish has some thoughts about billionaires — namely, she doesn’t think they should exist. The 26-year-old voiced her take on America’s wealthiest oligarchs on Wednesday night during WSJ.’s Innovator Awards at MoMa, where she was honored with the Music Innovator Award in a room that included Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. While taking the stage to accept her award, Eilish acknowledged the dire state of the country as she began her speech. “We’re in a time right now where the world is really, really bad and really dark, and people need empathy and help more than ever,” she began. “And I’d say if you have money, it would be great to use it for good things and maybe give it to some people that need it.”
“Love you all, but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me,” she said, smirking. “And if you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.”
Billie Eilish had a message for billionaires at the WSJ Innovator Awards: “Give your money away, shorties."
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 30, 2025
Eilish was one of eight who was honored for her work. At the event, Stephen Colbert announced Eilish is donating $11.5 million of the proceeds from her most recent tour to… pic.twitter.com/K555kWDTZj
Her speech seemed to be not-so-subtly directed at Zuckerberg, who was on hand to accompany Chan, a fellow honoree chosen for her contributions to philanthropy in science. Per Business Insider, Zuckerberg added at least $50 billion to his fortune this year alone. Some of the couple’s fortune does go to good causes — Chan’s award on Wednesday night honored the disease research she oversees at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative — but other donations are less flattering. In 2021, they gave $500 million to Harvard University to establish an institute for natural and artificial intelligence. Last year, Meta, taking cues from Zuckerberg’s fellow technocrats, contributed $1 million to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund.
Billie Eilish is making a $11,500,000 donation to organizations dedicated to food equity and the climate crisis!
— ???? (@concertleaks) October 30, 2025
pic.twitter.com/KpsfyakAKi
Eilish, meanwhile, set an example of how she would like people to distribute large piles of money. Elsewhere in the evening, Stephen Colbert announced the singer planned to donate $11.5 million of the proceeds from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour to “support organizations fighting for food equity, climate justice, reducing carbon pollution, and combatting the climate crisis.” “That’s wonderful!” Colbert said. “Billie, on behalf of humans, thank you very much.” You’re up next, Zuck.
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