How much money from a pandemic-relief fund for struggling musicians did Lil Wayne spend on himself? More than a milli. Actually, it’s more like $8.9 milli with $14,100 going to “mystery women,” per a report from Business Insider. The relief fund was part of the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant, and it was intended to provide money for venues and arts companies struggling without revenue during lockdown. Multiple musicians, including Lil Wayne, used the money for more luxurious purposes. The $14,000 on mystery women went toward flights and luxury hotel rooms for women who don’t appear directly involved with Wayne’s tours, including a porn star and a waitress at a “Hooters-type restaurant.” Other points on Wayne’s balance sheet include $1.3 million to private jets, $528,000 on clothing, and $88,000 for expenses toward a performance at a 2021 New Year’s Eve concert in Coachella, California, that he then canceled “due to wind and the flights,” per BI, though other private jets made the flight. As seen on Instagram, Wayne instead partied with 2 Chainz. When BI reached out to Wayne directly for comment, he made a “sexually explicit overture to a reporter.”
The grant allowed money to be sent to companies that were making at least 25 percent less than they had on previous years, but how those companies allotted the funds was up to them. Pop stars became eligible owing to their “loan-out” companies, per BI, which specifically focus on touring. They also had to sign a “good-faith statement.” Other celebrities in the report include Chris Brown, who reportedly spent $80,000 of the grant on a 2022 birthday party and $179,000 on a celebrity basketball tournament; DJ Marshmello, who reportedly paid himself the entire $9.9 million in grant money; Steve Aoki, who reportedly paid himself $1.9 million of his company’s $2.4 million “pay roll costs”; and the band Shinedown, three members of which split $2.5 million of their $8.3 million grant, while their 15 touring-production workers split $650,000. None of this is very rock and roll.
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