Billie Eilish pledges $11.5 million to charities and calls out billionaires

Billie Eilish has pledged to donate $11.5 million (€9.9 million) to charity and called for billionaires to show more empathy and do more good with their money.

She made the comments while attending the 2025 Wall Street Journal 2025 Innovator Awards yesterday where she received the Music Innovator Award.

While receiving the award, she said that more “empathy” from the wealthiest people would help society at large, calling out a number of billionaires in the room, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

"if you're a billionaire, why are you a billionaire?" -Billie at the @WSJ Innovator awards tonight in New York! pic.twitter.com/YjSoi4Ei0R

— Billie Eilish Society (@BillieSociety) October 30, 2025

“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, especially in our country”, Eilish said. “If you have money it would be great to use it for good things and maybe give it to some people that need it.

“I love you all but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me,” she continued. “And if you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? Give your money away, shorties”.

Earlier that night, host Stephen Colbert had announced that Eilish would be donating $11.5million (£8.7million) from her Hit Me Hard And Soft Tour to charities dedicated to food equity and the climate crisis.