Oprah Winfrey Matches George and Amal Clooney’s $500,000 March for Our Lives Donation
Oprah Winfrey has inspired millions over the years, but on February 20, it was her friends George and Amal Clooney who motivated her with their moving announcement that they’d be making a $500,000 donation to battle gun violence on behalf of their eight-month-old twins, Alexander and Ella.
In the wake of last week’s deadly shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school, the Oscar-winning actor said he and his wife have been “so inspired by the courage and eloquence of these young men and women from Stoneman Douglas High School” that they will be supporting their March for Our Lives movement in Washington, DC, next month. “Our family will be there on March 24 to stand side by side with this incredible generation of young people from all over the country, and in the name of our children Ella and Alexander, we’re donating $500,000 to help pay for this groundbreaking event,” he added in his statement. “Our children’s lives depend on it.”
Hours later, Winfrey followed suit. “George and Amal, I couldn’t agree with you more,” the media mogul tweeted, referencing the couple’s announcement. “I am joining forces with you and will match your $500,000 donation to ‘March for Our Lives.’ These inspiring young people remind me of the Freedom Riders of the ’60s who also said we’ve had ENOUGH and our voices will be heard.”
More Hollywood heavy-hitters agreed they’d also had enough, with director Steven Spielberg and wife Kate Capshaw, as well as veteran studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, pitching in an additional $500,000 each the same day. “The young students in Florida and now across the country are already demonstrating their leadership with a confidence and maturity that belies their ages,” read Spielberg and Capshaw’s joint statement. “We are joining in this movement with a donation of $500,000.”
The March for Our Lives group, started by survivors of the tragic Florida massacre, says on their website that the purpose of their now-multimillion-dollar march will be “to demand that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues.”
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(Photos via Kevin Winter/Getty + Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal via Getty)