Coachella's right-wing owner Philip Anschutz faces flak for reportedly supporting anti-LGBT and pro-gun politicians
Last weekend, plenty of music lovers and teepee enthusiasts descended on Indio, California, for the annual Coachella Music Festival. Considered to be the first big music festival of the season, Coachella has a reputation for attracting the worst of the worst but this time the attention seems to going elsewhere, leaving the spoilt rich kids to show off.
The focus this time is on Philip Anschutz, the owner of entertainment conglomerate AEG and founder of Coachella, after reports resurfaced that he was reportedly funding anti-LGBT and Pro-gun politicians for years now, and has no plans to stop anytime soon.
When reports of Anschutz donating to anti-LGBTQ organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council first surfaced, he called the Washington Post report as 'fake news', insisting he never intended to support groups that promoted inequality.
“Neither I nor the Foundation fund any organization with the purpose or expectation that it would finance anti-LGBTQ initiatives,” he said in a statement to Rolling Stone last year, “and when it has come to my attention or the attention of the Anschutz Foundation that certain organizations either the Foundation or I have funded have been supporting such causes, we have immediately ceased all contributions to such groups.”
However, new reports have come up showing that the right-wing billionaire isn't done funding the right-wing agenda just yet. According to recent reports by The Fader, the 78-year-old billionaire gave nearly $200,000 to Republican politicians and Super PACs throughout 2017. The biggest donations were made through The Anschutz Corporation, which handed over about $138,000 to the National Republican Senate Committee. Other politicians that received Anschutz’s money and attention include Deb Fischer, the pro-life Nebraska senator, and Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House.
The NRSC is an organization chaired by pro-gun Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, and it aims to increase the Republican senate majority.
Cara Delevingne, who was up until recently a huge fan of the festival, decided to voice her outrage and shunned the festival this year. And what's more, she even took to her social media account to raise awareness about the whole issue.
However, she faced a lot of flak from fans and followers for appreciating Beyonce's performance at the festival, so she responded back on her Instagram stories, explaining that her opposition to Anschutz and her support of Beyonce should be kept separate.
And just like Delevingne, Twitter users from all over the world also aren't letting these facts go, and are pointing out the atrocities of the whole festival to the world at large.
Following the backlash, AEG, the organizers of Coachella have explicitly stated that they are in fact, an ally of the LGBT+ community.