In a video posted Thursday evening, Melissa McCarthy apologized to followers for a donation given to an evangelical group with a historical past of anti-LGBT and anti-abortion activism. She additionally mentioned the $20,000 donation, granted as a part of a charity effort tied to her upcoming movie “Superintelligence,” has been rescinded.
“Hi there. It has come to our attention that our 20 Days of Kindness, which is something–a kindness up that we started to kind of shine a light on 20 great charities — had one in there that, there’s no other way to say it, we blew it,” McCarthy mentioned. “We made a mistake and we backed a charity that, upon proper vetting, stands for everything that we do not. So I want to thank everyone, on social media who said, ‘What are you doing? Are you sure you want to back this?’ Because the answer was no we do not.”
“We have pulled it. We are so incredibly grateful for you ringing the bell and helping us be better,” the actress continued. “We’re sorry for our mistake. Oh boy, are we sorry for it. [I] can’t believe that we missed it. And that’s it. And I just want to say that I hope it doesn’t ding the other charities because they’re really doing some amazing things, and 20 Days of Kindness Is really meant to shine the light on all of those wonderful charities. So, let the kindness continue… and thank you. Thanks for the help, we really needed it.”
In a separate assertion, HBO Max mentioned: “We were made aware of the issues surrounding Exodus Cry and have removed them from the list of partners associated with the 20 Days of kindness campaign.”
Earlier this week, HBO Max introduced a holiday-themed promotion surrounding “Superintelligence” for the streaming service. The marketing campaign “will highlight and donate $20K to a different good cause daily for 20 days while encouraging others to lend their support along the way” in response to HBO Max. Among the opposite teams listed are Planned Parenthood, Make-A-Wish, Human Rights Campaign, Girls Who Code and The Trevor Project.
The Daily Beast first reported that among the many teams receiving donations was Exodus Cry, a Sacramento-based Christian group that describes itself as “committed to abolishing sex trafficking and breaking the cycle of commercial sexual exploitation.” The group’s CEO Benjamin Nolot, who additionally wrote and directed the Netflix documentary movie “Liberated,” has a historical past of inflammatory rhetoric in the direction of homosexual folks and abortion. Nolot as soon as referred to homosexuality as “an unspeakable offense to God” and in contrast abortion to the Holocaust. Nolot has mentioned that his views on LGBTQ have “evolved” extra lately and that he advocates “for the right of all people to be free from all forms of oppression.”
The evangelical group presents itself as an “anti-sex-trafficking organization,” however, per the mission assertion specified by their 2018 tax returns (in response to The Daily Beast’s reporting), it needs to finally abolish the intercourse work business fully, and seems to baselessly equate all pornography and intercourse work with sex-trafficking. Those positions in addition to Nolot’s beforehand acknowledged views on abortion and LGBT rights sparked a social media backlash. Read extra about that right here.
Watch McCarthy’s apology beneath:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CHg6G7ugYi-/
More to come back…
