Hilary Swank’s Notorious Payday
Written by: FFT Webmaster | November 7th, 2011
She has two Academy Awards and the kind of lifestyle that most Americans would mortgage their homes for. However, a recent brouhaha has surrounded actress Hilary Swank about a pay day that is anything but audience friendly. It was revealed last week that Swank had accepted a reported six-figure payment to travel to the war-torn district of Chechnya to attend a lavish ceremony and birthday party for Chechen president Raman A. Kadyrov, who is notorious in Eastern Europe for his civil rights abuses, forced abductions and torture. Swank apologized and stated that the fee she received would be given to a charitable organization that fights for civil rights. This is just the latest in a public relations scandal that has been celebrated film and music stars receiving enormous payments to attend private events in countries that have an abysmal record of human rights abuses. A new advisory firm Global Philanthropy Group has teamed up with Human Rights Watch to offer free confidential service to help stars and their handlers to verify the records of people who want to hire them to appear at private functions.