Metallica Donated Almost As Much To Australian Bushfires Recovery As The Richest Man Alive

Donating cash to save a continent from fires? Hella metal. \M/


According to a statement, musical legends Metallica pledged to donate $750,000 Australian dollars, or a little bit over $500,000 U.S. Dollars to the NSW Rural Fire Service and to the Nation Fire Authority in Victoria to aid in the relief efforts, Rolling Stone reported.


“We are fully overwhelmed by the news of the wildfires sweeping through millions of acres across Australia, with major impact in New South Wales and Victoria,” the heavy music rock band mentioned. “The resulting destruction and devastating effects on all residents, animals, the environment and the incredible land in Australia is truly heartbreaking. Please accompany us and do whichever you could to assist.”


The fires, which have been raging for months, have killed at least 25 people, hundreds of millions of animals, and destroyed thousands of homes across Australia, NPR reported. And weather is likely going to prepare these fires worse, according to the Washington Post, with high temperatures prompting drought conditions that exacerbate bushfires and other burns, CNN reported.


Metallica’s donation also means that the musical group has secured almost as much cash for the climate crisis-fueled mess than Amazon CEO and richest man alive Jeff Bezos, who pledged $1 million Australian dollars — an amount that totals about $690,000 American dollars, or as GQ puts it, 0.000009 percent of his annual revenue. Such an amount is definitely nothing to sneeze at, yet it also amounts to just five minutes of passive revenue for the billionaire, according to Agency Insider.


Bezos’ organization Amazon, which relies on fossil fuels to power the transportation that ships packages all over the world, once threatened to fire its employees for merely speaking about the climate crisis. What’s more, high-speed shipping like the kind that Amazon touts as a core benefit of its Prime membership service has a major impact on the environment.


Although Bezos’s donation may have been eclipsed by 20-year-old Kaylen Ward, who is also referred to because the Nude Philanthropist; she reportedly raised somewhere around $1 million (USD) by promising to send personalized photographs to people who donated at least $10 to help the crisis, according to BuzzFeed News. Elton John and Kylie Jenner each pledged $1 million in aid on their own, while comedian Celeste Barber has raised more than  $32 million so far, according to the Verge.


Experts have estimated that the damage wrought by the fires could cost the nation at least $3 billion, the New York Times reports. And thus for now, some of the world’s biggest names have stepped up to help offset that cost. Thor star Chris Hemsworth pledged to donate $1 million, Kylie Minogue and her family pledged $500,000, Australian producer and DJ Flume will donate $100,000, and Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have pledged a $500,000 with each other. (It’s unclear if any of these donations are in U.S. Dollars or Australian dollars.)