Table for Ten, Cause Optional: The Celebrity Charity Gala Racket Nobody Wants to Talk About
The flowers cost $80,000. The venue deposit was more than most Americans make in a year. The celebrity host flew in on a private jet to accept an award for environmental awareness. And somewhere in the fine print, a genuinely struggling nonprofit got a check for eleven percent of the net proceeds. Welcome to the charity gala industrial complex — where doing good and looking good have become completely indistinguishable.