Haiti’s musician Wyclef Jean, left, arrives at the airport in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010, the day after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit his country. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
I read “The Smoking Gun” report “Wyclef Jean Charity’s Funny Money” in full, and although the tax issues need to be dealt with, I strongly stand by Wyclef Jean. CNN Money stated, “Experts say that lackadaisical accounting is common among non-profits and is not necessarily a red flag for suspicious behavior.” The worst thing the Yele Foundation did was turn tax papers in late, but these accusations that Wyclef was trying to get over on the money end are preposterous to me.
I had a discussion on Facebook earlier today with an FB friend about the costs that go into concerts, travel, management, administrative work, etc. That money just doesn’t fly out of thin air, and if someone is donating to the cause, they’re donating to all of that. And just being realistic here, how much did you hear about donations to Haiti from any other artist or even news programs before last week outside of Wyclef? When selfish people like Bill Maher could’ve cared as much about Haiti before the earthquake as he does now, Wyclef Jean was still spending time improving the economic situation in Haiti. Even the music artists who are donating now weren’t thinking about Haiti before it became the “in” event to donate to while Wyclef was.
For as long as I’ve been a fan of his work, before the Fugees and after, he has always asked people to support Haiti and talked about their economic issues. He’s been performing and raising money way before it was the “in” thing to do and has been far more focused on Haiti than other charitable organizations. And he was definitely covering Haitian issues before earthquake last Tuesday.
So when Wyclef finally responded to the accusations that he was using the business as a way to profit, all I kept thinking was “Finally!” Play the video below.
So what do you think? Is Wyclef Jean being honest?