The rich and famous joined Elton John at his 26th Oscars viewing party over the weekend to raise proceeds for his AIDS Foundation and they didn’t let him down!
The event took place on Sunday night and saw the likes of Miley Cyrus, Billie Jean King and Lionel Richie gather in West Hollywood Park.
Embed from Getty ImagesA live auction of several artworks and similar items took place raising a grand total of $725,000 with a painting of Her Majesty The Queen being the star of the show.
The piece, by artist Chris Levine, known as ‘Lightness of Being, 2018’ sold for a jaw-dropping $270,000 and resulted in a huge amount of money being made for the cause.
Those who had attended were invited to text in pledges during the Oscars telecast and were informed that they were at a rare event where “it’s ok to spend the night texting.”
While they aren’t short on a penny or two, the generous bids came rolling in with party-goers pledging amounts from $10 to $20,000.
Pledges were displayed on screen during the commercial breaks of the awards ceremony and at one point showed Chris Colfer, a former Glee star, text in “No one has carded me yet. Woo hoo!” along side a generous donation of $5000.
Since it’s launch in America in 1992, Elton John’s foundation has raised more than $400 million for programs that are aimed at fighting AIDS across the globe. John and his husband David Furnish thanked the attendees for all their kind pledges.
As well as the auction and the sale of The Queen’s portrait, the fun-filled evening saw live entertainment from a Michigan based hard-rock band, Greta Van Fleet, who wowed the crowd with their guitar riffs and the rocky tones from lead singer, 21-year-old Joshua Kiszka.
“Whoever says rock music is dead is completely wrong.” Elton John told the Los Angeles Times. He joined the band for their set to show his onlookers he’s very much still got it!
“They are going to be one of the biggest bands of the year.” he continued, praising the young rock stars.
Overall the evening raised $5.9 million and was a great success.
