Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella
Coachella owner and Republican mega-donor Philip Anschutz announced this week that he's donated $1 million to Elton John's AIDS Foundation's LGBT Fund, Pitchfork reports.
"My gift to the Elton John Foundation is intended to emphasize that we support freedom of all people to live their lives peacefully, without interference from others," Anschutz said in a statement to Billboard. "Sexuality is among the most personal of issues, and it has never been my intent to weigh in on people’s private lives. I support the rights of all people and oppose discrimination and intolerance against the LGBTQ community. I see this as a matter of basic human rights."
Anschutz has donated to anti-LGBTQ groups, some of which have been qualified as extremist hate groups by Southern Poverty Law Center, for several years, and personally contributed $1,012,000 to Republican or Republican-aligned candidates and PACS in the 2016 election season. His charitable foundation was revealed to have given at least $770,000 to hate groups that year.
"Our Foundation supports a broad range of philanthropic causes," he said of that organization. "I regret if any money given to a charity for other purposes may have indirectly worked against these values. That was not my intention, it does not reflect my beliefs, and I am committed to making sure our internal processes are strengthened so that it does not happen again."
Read more about his history of donations here.