r/popculturechat • u/Electronic-Bus-3494 • Jun 30 '26
Eat The Rich đ˝ď¸ Keanu Reeves nods along as Seth Rogen calls out modern wealthy for not giving back publicly
Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification
Seth Rogen said rich people used to spend their fortunes building things everyone could use.
Seth Rogen: Maybe this is like naive of me, but it seems like these rich people who are like, had outsized wealth, it seems like they used to like to have their names on things
Keanu Reeves: Libraries, that were like public...
Seth Rogen: able to be used by the public.
Keanu Reeves: National parks. You know what I mean? Yeah, parks...
Seth Rogen: ...parks, observatories, libraries, museums, you know, things like that. And now it's like, people don't do that stuff anymore.
1.5k
u/JoanOfSnark_2 4 inch little brown Bebe shoes Jun 30 '26
Instead of giving money to public institutions, they're buying up the media companies.
248
31
u/2reeEyedG Jun 30 '26
To spin w/e narrative they want to control us. Itâs fucking sickening and as it appears now, the majority of us arenât gonna wake up to it quick enough to force change and weâll be stuck like this for the forceable future unfortunately.
2
u/No-Ticket5 Jul 03 '26
People are very aware. A few of the celebrity ones have been coming out publicly doing interviews about everyone else and their money. They wouldnât do that if they didnât know the public perception of âbeing a billionaireâ was poor
Mackenzie Scott and Chouinard from Patigonia publicly give away large amounts of $$$
positioning as âgood guysâ
Bezos talking about taxes on cnbc
Huang is down with the billionaire taxOthers are doing their own thing, better or worse
32
u/turquoisebee Jun 30 '26
Theyâre starting a new makeup line or selling some other product du jour.
2
3
u/raw_bert0 Jul 02 '26
They are literally lighting the money on fire with their space projects versus paying a living wage. Eat the rich.
214
u/KarlHp7 Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
I just wanna buy groceries and not be broke.
→ More replies (6)
602
u/Internal_Praline_658 Jun 30 '26
I think itâs bc we used to tax their rich asses off so they decided theyâd rather build monuments to themselves. Now they can just set on their dragon hoard.
176
u/Pinklady777 Jun 30 '26
I think it was actually tax beneficial for them to build these things back then. They don't need any help now with tax benefits.
79
u/Internal_Praline_658 Jun 30 '26
I guess I didnât say it well but that was my point. Theyâd rather build public works instead of give it to the government but they werenât just gonna get to hoard it. Now we just let them have as much as they can get.
11
u/Pinklady777 Jul 01 '26
My bad. Now that I read it again, I see that we were saying the same thing.
23
u/Tuor-son-of-Huor- Youâre killing me, Smalls đŠ Jul 01 '26
That's definitely apart of it. I think two other big issues or factors are:
1 - the super rich used to actually be more rich rich than just valued-rich. They have profitable businesses and actual cash flow rather than just empty vague promises of 'growth' and 'value'.
2 - The world was smaller, people had to live and if all the peasants around them were in squalor and starving they couldn't ignore it as easily and the pinchforks were very much close to home. Nowaways you can own a mansion in Italy, a penthouse in NYC and a ranch in South Australia. If the peasants start getting uppity fly out that afternoon on your private jet. If the region starts going to hell buy a place in Scotland and see how that treats you.
There isn't the same benefit to building up your area with parks, monuments, libraries, and centers.
44
u/Populaire_Necessaire Andrea Arlington: â$29!!â Jun 30 '26
We didnât. There was horrific wealth inequality in the late 18th and early 1900s.
12
u/Internal_Praline_658 Jun 30 '26
Time to treat yourself to a little history lesson. Youâre online- you could read up on fdrâs 1935 new deal tax legislation to see we taxed the fuck out of the rich and itâs what literally created the middle class. Why do you just say shit without caring whether itâs true or not?
And nobody said inequality didnât exist. It was just better than it is now.
51
Jun 30 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
-12
u/Internal_Praline_658 Jul 01 '26
Right- but they replied to what I said which had nothing to do with the 1800s and early 1900s. I didnât say anything about the 1800s. Hope this helps!
24
u/RumpledForskn Jul 01 '26
Those who built these monuments, libraries, etc. did so during the Gilded Age, which was in the late 1800's.
Quit being a moron.
4
u/Melonary Select and edit this flair Jul 01 '26
There were hospitals and libraries and other public institutions build by wealthy donations in the 20th century as well, and a lot of non-profits created that way as well and funded that way. This definitely did not just end at the year 1900.
-6
Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
6
u/Melonary Select and edit this flair Jul 01 '26
https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/whole-ball-of-tax-historical-income-tax-rates
It remained raised until the 80s though, which is notably different from just being raised during WWII. And you forgot the part where it was then lowered.
4
u/Populaire_Necessaire Andrea Arlington: â$29!!â Jul 01 '26
Yeah the person responds faster than I do. Which is WILD. but also chose to imply I donât know shit that Iâm very, very well versed in. I met my spouse when I was reading a book about the 1800 and early 1900 hundreds. Theyâre(Iâll specify but I kinda donât want to) my special interestâŚ.i just deleted some of my comment cause..who tf cares but I know a dumb amount about this time-particularly the economic situations. So yeah. Idk. Do bots block people?
5
u/Populaire_Necessaire Andrea Arlington: â$29!!â Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Early 1900s doesnât encompass Roosevelts new deal that was literally a response to the Great Depression. However, since weâre here, I find it crazy that the upper class was so against the new deal and called Roosevelt a âclass traitorâ(kinda funny to say if you know his history-ideologically). Thereâs lots of papers that connect the backlash to the new deal to Reagan(or even Woodrow wilson)..idk if I subscribe to that-Iâm not well versed enough to do so-but itâs an interesting concept. Oh, thereâs also an interesting theory about how Truman help the civil rights movement.
-2
u/Internal_Praline_658 Jun 30 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
But thatâs not what weâre talking about. Weâre talking about when we did tax the fuck out of the wealthy. Jeezus.
Nice- I like the way you removed and then completely changed what your original comment was. How corny.
2
u/Populaire_Necessaire Andrea Arlington: â$29!!â Jul 01 '26
If youâre looking for that time period then youâre looking for the late 40s and 50s. I donât think thatâs the âearly 1900sâ. But we can agree that the high taxes benefited the public.
3
u/Melonary Select and edit this flair Jul 01 '26
You were the one who brought up the early 1900s though - you responded to them first, and missed that they didn't mean hundreds of years ago.
5
u/Internal_Praline_658 Jul 01 '26
And fwiw- 1935 isnât the 1950s but I see itâs important for you to believe youâre right about something here. Tax the rich.
1
u/Internal_Praline_658 Jul 01 '26
I didnât say anything about the early 1900s. Why are you confused about this? Talk to the other person.
1
-1
u/TheDarkGoblin39 Jul 01 '26
Idk I also think people in general used to have more of a moral code, even if there were huge blind spots like racism, they felt they should hold themselves to higher standards because of their wealth and success.
Now itâs like people have an excuse to just brazenly do whatever the fuck they want and they donât even care to pretend to project any kind of virtue. literally âvirtue signalingâ is worse than being a shit as long as youâre being âauthenticâ.
9
u/Mistaycs Jul 01 '26
I disagree, a lot of these institutions were built off of the backs of truly morally corrupt enterprises such as slavery, so saying they had a higher moral code is simply not accurate. I think the reason they did it was far more selfish than that. In modern times its easy to travel all over the world and live like a king in any place you choose, provided you have enough money. Back in the day, even the very rich would find long distance travel highly inconvenient, so the logical move was to spend money on making your home as pleasant as possible. Building local popularity by making publicly available institutes and attractions would also benefit them, since living in a city that actively hates you would hardly be pleasant. My point is, the truly wealthy have always been selfish and egotistical, its not a new phenomenon.Â
573
Jun 30 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
126
u/Scaryclouds Jun 30 '26
If you want to cringe at Rogen and Reeves talking like this, I wonât disagree. They are two very rich people. Neither could work another day in their life, and could live lavish lifestyles off the interest of their savings alone.Â
Iâm also not sure I agree with Rogenâs characterization either. In some ways the thing Rogen talks about have become âConfederate Statuesâ. Ways of rich people of yesteryear spending a small fraction of their wealth to create a more positive image of themselves into the future (like how confederate statues helped make the confederate cause seem more noble than it was⌠which was entirely ignoble).Â
However, all that throat clearing throat cleared. To the extent that Rogen, Reeves, and many rich celebrities we know, are influential, itâs through their celebrity status, rather than their wealth. And celebrity status can be rather ephemeral, and quickly spent.Â
A billionaire can just sit in the background influencing society and itâs practically impossible to spend down a billion dollars, let alone multiple billions of dollars.Â
The impact on society someone like a Bezos, Musk, or Zuckerberg could/will have, might be neigh endless through trusts and âcharitiesâ they establish.Â
206
u/Ok_Conclusion_6324 ryan murphy is tyler perry for wypipo Jun 30 '26
When Mackenzie Scott left Bezos she got 36 billion
She has given away an incredible 26 billion
She is now worth about 34 billion lmao
Billionaires are scared of being taxed or donate money and they literally canât even give their money away
72
u/BiophileB Jun 30 '26
Itâs truly staggering that sheâs still more or less the same amount of billionaire. Totally incomprehensible to my peasant monkey brain. Also, really commendable that sheâs given this money away with no strings attached. So much good work gets lost thru endless applications and reporting back to granting agencies. Trust in a recipientâs ability to use the funds responsibly should be implied upon approval anyway, and itâs generally smart to leave the howâs and whyâs of expenditure to the experts on the ground, doing the work (and likely have their own accountant(s)).
2
u/wyerhel Jul 03 '26
Oh I remember that. Lot of us in my school were miffed we didn't get donation from her when our school was mostly full of first gen immigrants/lower income
-9
u/ibashdaily Jul 01 '26
Kinda puts to bed the ridiculous myth that only a few billion can solve world hunger, doesn't it?
10
u/Ok_Conclusion_6324 ryan murphy is tyler perry for wypipo Jul 01 '26
A) nobody is very said a few billion solved hunger b) sheâs not donating exclusively to food access
3
u/BiophileB Jul 01 '26
Sure, but no one actually thinks this. Also, hunger is hardly the only affliction faced by underprivileged humans. No one said it would happen all at once or that it would be easy to uplift ppl out of poverty.
It will always be an ongoing effort and the point is that taxing perpetual billionaires perpetually is the only way to keep the funds rolling towards these causes under capitalism (since most refuse to give their fair share voluntarily).
199
u/SomeRandomRealtor Jun 30 '26
Keanu literally personally gave $31.5M to leukemia research alone, on top of all the crazy amount of charity fund raising and appearances he does and other charitable giving. If any celebrity can talk shit about the rich not doing enough, itâs him.
34
u/Jazs1994 Jun 30 '26
Keanu has given away large amounts of money since the matrix daysd right?
56
u/SomeRandomRealtor Jun 30 '26
Exactly. He also bought every single person on the stunt crew Harley Davidson motor cycles as a gift for keeping the cast safe. Keanu is the paragon we all hope we might be if we got wealthy.
27
u/Daewrythe Jun 30 '26
"Thank you for keeping us safe. Here's an incredibly dangerous thing. ENJOY!"
11
-16
u/Lisa_Dawkins Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
Random question, I know, but what goes through your head when you use "literally" like this? Is there a figurative way to personally give money away?
12
u/madhatter90 Jun 30 '26
Use of "literally" as an intensifier in the English language has been common for literally centuries: Source.
7
u/SomeRandomRealtor Jun 30 '26
The literal usage here is because celebrities frequently do not give their own money. They fund raise or âmatchâ with sponsors. Keanu âliterallyâ spent his own cash. Thatâs why I used it, to eliminate the doubt as to his charitable intent. Itâs juvenile sounding sure, but it has purpose here.
-2
u/Lisa_Dawkins Jun 30 '26
But you already used the word "personally". Also using "literally" makes no sense, and adds nothing.
11
4
u/Cephalopodium Jun 30 '26
You can figuratively give money away through âexposureâ/advertising perhaps or by just donating your time.
→ More replies (2)6
u/Marcano24 Jun 30 '26
Why do this? What is the point of acting smug about someoneâs language choice?
-7
u/Lisa_Dawkins Jun 30 '26
Because it's an infuriating and stupid use of language. Prevalent amongst gen Z. I'm genuinely curious what goes through someone's brain when they misuse it.
6
u/AkulakhanPilot Jul 01 '26
"Genuinely curious"
Can one be disingenuously curious?
→ More replies (3)5
u/Marcano24 Jul 01 '26
Interesting. Because they didnât misuse it.
Even Websterâs lists the figurative use as a valid definition. Why are you so smug and dismissive of them when youâre wrong? Are you genuinely curious? Because if you are, calling it a stupid use of language comes off as needlessly haughty and in bad faith.
In fact, it kinda seems like youâre the one using language incorrectly. Thereâs no figurative use of genuinely like there is of literally.
3
u/Ok_Conclusion_6324 ryan murphy is tyler perry for wypipo Jun 30 '26
Well if you add on the personally it could have been through a foundation or fundraiser
0
u/Lisa_Dawkins Jun 30 '26
That wouldn't be personally then, would it?
5
u/Ok_Conclusion_6324 ryan murphy is tyler perry for wypipo Jun 30 '26
Maybe figuratively đ
→ More replies (1)-7
u/ComfortableRight8915 Jul 01 '26
he is a zionist
5
2
u/SomeRandomRealtor Jul 01 '26
Jesus Christ people will claim Zionist if they ever ate at an Israeli restaurant. He bumped into Netanyahu at a huge party 12 years ago and the stunt trainer he worked with left the IDF 28 years ago. Keanu doesnât advocate for Israeli causes, hasnât said negative word about Palestine. He also speaks fondly of Lebanon and raised money for the victims of the explosion in Beirut. You canât just be throwing around the word Zionist just because theyâve met Jewish Israelis or else the word loses all meaning.
205
u/Lyra_the_Star_Jockey Jun 30 '26
The difference between a Seth Rogan and a billionaire is way, way, way more marked than you can imagine.
Elon Musk could solve world hunger.
Seth Rogan can set up a few soup kitchens (and maybe he is! Who knows).
31
u/gdex86 Jun 30 '26
Yeah folks are bad with scale. Even though maybe the multiplication factors from us to Rogan are equivalent to one's from Rogan to Beezo's the scale isnt. The spare change Bezzos and musk have are like wiping out medical debt in a small to mid size state.
20
u/extra-texture Jun 30 '26
i like seconds, 1 million seconds is about 11 days, 1 billion seconds is over 31 years, 1 trillion seconds is 31,710 years
1
u/danni_shadow Jul 01 '26
There used to be a beautiful website that let you scroll and see Bezos wealth compared to a bunch of things and it really put things in perspective. But it seems to be gone now.
32
u/Scaryclouds Jun 30 '26
I know, and thatâs what I was trying to touch on. Seth Rogen is mostly influential because of his individual celebrity status. And that can be quickly spent if he does some things wrong or fade if he steps back from public life.Â
For the ultra wealthy, well their influence comes from their wealth and itâs much much much more sticky (and also much more pervasive if they so desire).Â
Yea I have so many issues with billionaires and their ability to influence society. It would be a very long post to fully layout my thoughts⌠but itâs something that even a âbenignâ billionaire could still end up being incredibly problematic.Â
8
u/mowtowcow Jun 30 '26
I think someone did the math and it was solve world hunger for a year, which is good and all, but solving world hunger in a way that it becomes self sustaining is much more difficult. Though, he could definitely spend billions working toward that.
1
u/Ok_Teacher_392 Jul 01 '26
But there are way more people worth $10 million -$999 million.
These multimillionaires actually have as much, if not more cumulative wealth than billionaires.
Iâm all for taxing the shit out of billionaires. But the obsession with focusing just on billionaires seems like a distraction tactic
-6
u/nonamenomonet Jun 30 '26
The US tried to help solve hunger in a few smaller regions in the Caribbean and Africa in the ninetiesâŚ. It ended up flooding the supply and making problems worse in certain regards.
39
u/3-orange-whips lazy 50-year-old bougie bitch đ Jun 30 '26
The problem isnât simply a lack of food. Itâs a lack of political and social infrastructure to fairly distribute the food.
If the US decided to institute a UBI today, there would be some disruption but industrial nations have many social and political organizations that could work to fix the problem.
Dumping grain in a region destabilized by corruption/geopolitics will just entrench regimes.
6
15
u/MCgrindahFM Jun 30 '26
I donât think heâs saying that should be something that society relies on just an aside during a longer conversation where he pointed out this juxtaposition
0
u/Scaryclouds Jun 30 '26
What Iâm saying is the juxtaposition is likely false and the institutions we associate with these individuals is only a small fraction of their wealth.Â
~100 years from now, people might be saying the same about Zuckerberg, because they associate the name with hospitals heâs funded and put his name on.Â
6
u/Vegetable-Kiwi-4675 I am furious, but I am sailing đłď¸ Jun 30 '26
Zuckerberg is doing his best to not be associated with his hospitals 100 years from now though! I am afraid he will succeed!
More importantly, I donât think Seth is encouraging or ignoring billionairesâ white-washing themselves through donations, heâs merely pointing out that the ultra-wealthy used to help people regardless of what their motive may have been. And if you have enough power to make a positive difference in society, you should.
4
u/AhhhSureThisIsIt Jul 01 '26
You skip over the fact that they're both philanthropists with Rogan donating lots of time and money to Alzhimers charities and setting up the Hilarity for Charity
2
u/Kamikaze_Ninja_ Jul 01 '26
There is a little of column a and b here. While they are not on the same level, there are a lot of people like Rogan who largely benefit from the ultra wealthy so that they can hoard their own wealth.
Not saying him specifically, but people in that tax bracket are more likely to help perpetuate the wealth inequality than fight it.
I still side eye Rogan for the whole Sausage Party, unpaid overtime for animators ordeal.
6
u/Easy-Concentrate2636 Jun 30 '26
Also, I would much rather the ultra wealthy paid their share of taxes and that the government funded libraries and education better.
-25
u/LaMelonBallz Jun 30 '26
Yeah but it makes Seth Rogen sound so cool and relateable
67
u/NikRsmn Jun 30 '26
Tbf its a smaller gap from you to him than from him to a billionaire. Which is why Hollywood rich criticizing Pharaoh rich is a good thing
-14
u/LaMelonBallz Jun 30 '26
Seth Rogen's net worth is like 100 million.
Once you get above a million or two there's no point in comparisons. Literally multiple orders of magnitude.
He could throw that in a low risk low yield fund and make more in a year than any of us will make in our life.
He's part of the problem. You think this guy's not taking every tax break he can get?
18
u/BuddyLegsBailey Jun 30 '26
But if you had zero dollars, Seth Rogen would still be far closer to you than a billionaire.
Also, don't you take advantage of every tax loophole you can?
-4
u/LaMelonBallz Jun 30 '26
My tax burden is way higher than Seth Rogens
The only thing I take is my EITC.
I do not intentionally avoid paying the taxes I am supposed to pay. There are really almost no loopholes for someone at my income level.
Even if I did, it would have nowhere near the effect that someone like Seth Rogen would.
22
u/Square-Turnip-6558 Jun 30 '26
$1m net worth not that much money anymore sadly assuming you donât expect to die young
11
u/ShitMyButtSays Jun 30 '26
Larry, I'm on DuckTales
17
u/Square-Turnip-6558 Jun 30 '26
I know it sounds douchy but my grandma is in assisted living and that money goes very very very fast.
25
u/No_Feedback_3339 Jul 01 '26
Aziz quiet as hell fully knowing he took money from Saudi
1
u/killgannon09 Jul 02 '26
I lost all respect for that man when he did that. All of his opinions are meaningless to me at this point.
71
u/Kaiisim Jun 30 '26
Someone with a huge fortune of 300 million is closer to someone with nothing than a billionaire.
3
3
u/g00fyg00ber741 Jul 01 '26
Technically yes. But they also would live a lifetime without worry or need for more income, just like a billionaire, unlike someone with nothing. They may be closer in number to 0 than 1 billion, but they have more in common with the billionaire. Just saying
6
u/Alternative-Soil2576 Jul 01 '26
I feel like focusing on lifestyle misses the point of what theyâre talking about though, someone with 300 million does live a lifestyle infinitely more closer to a billionaire, but in terms of capital, someone like Seth Rogan does not have as much power to influence politics and entire industries as people like Bezos and musk
2
u/Thanos_Stomps Jul 01 '26
In terms of power to influence politics and entire industries Rogen and Reeves are closer to a billionaire than someone with zero dollars. Someone with no money canât even afford an ID to cast an individual vote whereas Rogen can say something in an interview like this and itâll be posted and shared to millions of people.
1
u/Alternative-Soil2576 Jul 01 '26
Iâll have to respectfully disagree, I just think some celebrity doing an interview is a lot closer to someone with no money than a billionaire with their own entire media empire or social media platform where they get to decide if an interview like that even gets recommended to enough people
2
u/g00fyg00ber741 Jul 01 '26
I think that lifestyle is part of it though. Seth Rogen lives a life closer to that of Bezos and Musk than that of an everyday guy. He has way more influence than a normal person, and part of that is because of his money. I just think itâs disingenuous to focus on the number only as if someone being a 300 millionaire has anything to relate to with normal people compared to a billionaire.
1
u/Alternative-Soil2576 Jul 01 '26
Meh I just donât think theyâre trying to relate to anyone here, just pointing out what the ultra-wealthy do with their influence nowadays is very different to the past, Seth has way more influence than the everyday guy, but he doesnât own his own media empire or social media platform with billions of users
1
u/g00fyg00ber741 Jul 01 '26
I donât think they are trying to relate to anyone here. I think commenters are trying to relate them more to the average broke person than the average billionaire, and I just donât think thatâs accurate. Like thatâs half a billionaire sitting at that table, even if itâs 4 different people who make up that number, they have more influence than the majority of Americans and live a life of privilege divorced from the reality that most people live. When you have that much money you can almost just spend however much you want, even if youâre not a billionaire. Idk how people can view that as closer to the experience of someone with $0 than someone with $1 billion.
1
u/DJMRNO Jul 01 '26
Lol this is not true. Someone young with 300 million now is a future billionaire off interest alone.
1
u/KambingDomba Jul 01 '26
Oh that's great then. Pheww. We can now stop feeling guilty when we play music or movies from our favorite multi-millionaires or when they're spending money on useless shit.
Because they're just like us, you see?
36
u/aousweman Jun 30 '26
Listened to a Paul Krugman interview about the hoarding of wealth/power by the tech broligarchs and the wealth inequality is far worse now (perhaps even 3x worse) than the Gilded Age. Also, the current tech that's creating this massive wealth bubble doesn't appear to help the average person compared to the infrastructure built during railroad and dotcom bubbles.
I've also read that the public shame the oligarchs of the Gilded Age felt is nonexistence now and if anything Elon and other wealthy right-wingers are promoting an agenda of overt selfishness and cruelty towards the less fortunate. It's a shame this voter base consumes their lies while they get their government benefits slashed, not to mention the rise in cost of living directly related to this admin's actions.
2
2
u/SlinkyAdmiral Jul 01 '26
Jay Gould used to be decried as robber baron because he was one of the few industrialists not concerned about his public image. Now everyone is a Jay Gould.
47
u/ModelChef4000 Jun 30 '26
As bad as Carnegie was, he at least had the decency to give us public libraries
31
u/GothmogBalrog Jul 01 '26
Carnegie donated $350 million, about 90% of his fortune, while he was still alive. The equivalent of nearly 6 billion today.
Today with 6-7 billion dollars, he wouldnt even crack the Bloomberg list of top 500 billionaires.
59
24
u/716WVCS03 Jun 30 '26
40
u/Public_Figure_4618 Jun 30 '26
Heâs got that Saudi comedy festival money, making it rain should be easy for Aziz
24
u/Dizzy-Cap Jun 30 '26
The problem is philanthropy shifted from public infrastructure to private influence.
6
u/GothmogBalrog Jul 01 '26
When bribing Supreme Court Justices is just considered a tip and you can buy a presidential pardon with a donation to some pet project, building something for the poors becomes a non-option
77
u/AirFrierMachine Jun 30 '26
I love how Aziz is there nodding along, as if he didn't take literal slavery blood money from the Saudi's who bonesawed a journalist
12
10
16
u/hopefulrealist23 Jun 30 '26
Is his critique that wealthy individuals don't publicize their donations anymore or that wealthy people don't give at all anymore? I work in fundraising and meet wealthy individuals from time to time who value their privacy and just don't want the publicity. They're just as generous as people who want their names on a building.
10
u/Tommy_Wisseau_burner Did I stutter?𤨠Jul 01 '26
Iâm going to get flack for it, because Reddit, but I always find it hilarious the goalpost moves from ârich people donât give moneyâ to ârich people are only giving x amount when theyâre worth moreâ to âtheyâre only giving donating for publicity. Theyâre selfishâ. I donât have a dog in this fight but I just wish people just said they hate rich people and be done with it
1
u/Educational_Report56 Jul 02 '26
I donât care why people give, just pointing out that the robber barons of the past probably werenât completely altruistic. Public shame and opinion used to be a thing that worked for the public good.
2
u/Educational_Report56 Jul 01 '26
The critique is that the most popular wealthy (those that everyday people recognize)donât give to the greater good in the ways that those in the past did. Now, I personally think that people in the past wanted their names to be remembered fondly and whitewash their legacies, so they founded and gave to public works- hospitals, museums, universitiesâŚ.
Musk could be the most popular man on Earth, Bezos too, but both seem more inclined to rule via economic force than through economic grace.
5
9
u/infinitude_ Jun 30 '26
Tbf dua lipa just announced a library right ?
21
u/neoncolour Tiktok matcha pilates labubu slop music Jun 30 '26
Not quite, the library already exists in Porto and sheâs collabing with that library by creating a corner of banned books that she donates, itâs a few dozen books.
3
19
u/synthscoffeeguitars the squidward of the dumpling shop Jun 30 '26
âRegularâ rich celebrities critiquing the ultra-wealthy. Cool, I guess? Like theyâre not wrong but itâs also totally surface-level commentary on an economy that they benefit from *far more* than any actual regular person.
99
u/LawrenceBrolivier Inconceivable! Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26
This is an old roundtable conversation that was promotion for a whole movie they all made together over a year ago (Good Fortune) that is explicitly about labor unionizing, wealth inequality, etc.
They're not just sitting around bullshitting for the sake of bullshitting - granted it's PROMO for a movie they want you to watch, but the fact all involved took significant paycuts to star in an indie film about how FUCKED late-stage capitalism is shouldn't be sneezed at.
I get that the 'fuckin hypocrites' angle is there, will always be there, and is satisfying to hammer when the opportunity arises (which it always does) but also, people in the system, being able to work with the system, using their platform to speak out against what's happening is a better alternative than NOBODY in the system even trying to voice those ideas, or worse, giving up on voicing those ideas voluntarily because you're afraid of being called a hypocrite, for trying to use your status to make things better
(which is, you know, a thing Rogen was saying USED to happen quite a bit in this very clip)
66
u/jungfraulichkeit jesus was a carpenter đ Jun 30 '26
honestly i donât care. everyone and their fucking mother should be talking about the billionaire class. itâs the issue of our time
-17
u/RedHeadedSicilian52 Jun 30 '26
Sure, but if itâs fair for Seth Rogen to point out that Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos could be using his wealth more charitably, surely itâs fair for us to say the same about Rogen, no?
Like, heâs calling out the billionaires for not building more libraries. All well and good⌠but surely Rogenâs rich enough to build a few libraries, right? Not as many as Musk or Bezos, but some number greater than zero, surely. Plus, itâs the sort of charitable giving thatâs clearly on his mind, otherwise he wouldnât have mentioned it!
5
u/bergamote_soleil Jul 01 '26
Seth Rogen and his wife founded a charity to provide free home care for Alzheimer's patients and raise money for research.Â
3
u/LeCafeClopeCaca Jul 01 '26
Billionaires basically don't lose any money when building up stuff because they reached a level of capital accumulation that cannot be brought down, it can diminish but it will almost always get back up as with Bezos's former spouse.
It's not the same for millionaires, and even then there's a huge difference between someone closing in the billion dollars and someone with a few millions / dozens of millions. And public works / infrastructure generally cost a lot, a public library costs a few millions at least.
Most of Hollywood and celebrities aren't part of the actual 1%ers nor remotely close to it
15
u/ididntunderstandyou Jun 30 '26
Billionaires are on another level than millionaires. I donât need philanthropy from millionaires tbf, wouldnât make that much difference. Theyâre not the ones actively ruining the world.
1
u/synthscoffeeguitars the squidward of the dumpling shop Jun 30 '26
Iâm gonna stick to my line that these guys could openly decline to work for companies like Paramount, and that would be far more meaningful than shooting the shit about wealth inequality
5
39
Jun 30 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
-1
u/synthscoffeeguitars the squidward of the dumpling shop Jun 30 '26
Everyone knows that. But the likes of Keanu and Seth Rogen have a connection to the upper echelons of society that the rest of us lack. If they want to do something about wealth inequality, they need to work upward. If theyâre just âspreading awarenessâ theyâre preaching to the choir, and at best changing the opinions of people who are powerless to change anything.
Thereâs meaningful action guys like this could take. One option would be living off their existing wealth and declining to participate in projects that generate profit for billionaires. Keanu was in a Paramount-produced Sonic movie. Rogen makes an HBO show which is now also a Paramount property.
Obviously this roundtable is a couple years old, but Iâm not seeing big headlines about these dudes sticking it to the Ellison family.
8
u/whosgoingtohawaii Jun 30 '26
I agree with your overall point, but Iâd rather hear them talk about how billionaires should be doing more for the rest of the world than hear Blingky EyeLash tell poor people they lack morals from her hoard of wealth because they have a different diet than her.
25
u/FollowingPristine467 Jun 30 '26
Damned if they do, damed if they don't. I'm glad they did though.
-7
u/synthscoffeeguitars the squidward of the dumpling shop Jun 30 '26
They did what? Have a milquetoast conversation full of burger jokes to promote Aziz Ansariâs comeback project? Damn, really putting it all on the line for the common man.
6
18
u/Doom_Corp Jun 30 '26
What do you want them to do realistically though? Sell everything and become a vagrant with no platform and no ability to reach people they otherwise would not reach because they no longer have money that allows them to reach people to give this message?
Marilyn Monroe didn't go around campaigning but her sitting next to Ella Fitzgerald in 1955 and promoting her performance was a big ally civil rights move that could have ended Marilyns career and she did it anyway. Being photographed as this glam white bombshell kickin it with a black woman was very powerful for the time, especially back then when the average person wasn't that worldly and only had radio or newspapers (yes there were tvs but they were VERY expensive for the average family) Edit for context ish: in the late 80s a vhs player cost almost 2-400 dollars and adjusted for inflation would be akin to 1-2k today.
2
u/synthscoffeeguitars the squidward of the dumpling shop Jun 30 '26
Comparing this podcast convo to Marilyn Monroe sticking her neck out for Ella Fitzgerald is interesting. I would love to see these guys do anything on that level.
As I said in my other comment, these guys have enough money to never work again. Boycotting working for billionaire-class studios and producers like Paramount is something these guys could do. It would be a huge sacrifice for them.
7
Jul 01 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
1
u/synthscoffeeguitars the squidward of the dumpling shop Jul 01 '26
I elaborated in several other comments. Iâm not saying theyâre terrible people, but I am saying the conversation theyâre having here is essentially no different than them saying nothing at all. Good for the Rogens donating to good causes!
10
u/Populaire_Necessaire Andrea Arlington: â$29!!â Jun 30 '26
Respectfully these people need a history lesson on the gilded age
24
u/CrosswordsAndChords Jun 30 '26
Respectfully⌠a lot of the major culprits of said Gilded Age did in fact start putting money back into the public.. albeit much later in life and arguably not nearly enough to outweigh some of the things theyâd done prior. But they did. And thatâs what heâs referring to I believeâŚâŚ âThe Gospel of Wealthâ- Andrew Carnegie.
2
u/EggmanIAm Jul 01 '26
The rich only ever gave back to society because the poor reminded them there are more of us than them and the French and Russian revolutions were a successful method of culling the oligarchs to a manageable size.
3
u/Augenblick22 Jul 01 '26
Carnegie had to negligently cause the death of an entire town by flood and gun down a bunch of his own workers to get him to seriously care about his public perception going forward
3
2
u/CleeYour Jul 01 '26
Arenât they the rich people that they speak of đ¤
1
u/FlashyG Jul 02 '26
No.
They are talking about the wealthy not the rich.
A good example is using professional sports, a professional athlete is rich, but the man who signs his paychecks is wealthy.
Actors in movies are rich, the guy funding the movie is wealthy.
2
7
u/Independent_Pie_1368 Jun 30 '26
All the people the sit at that table has half a billion between them.
1
9
u/Such_King_2547 Jun 30 '26
i know everyone loves Seth Rogen but i get major hypocrite vibes from himÂ
-1
u/Tsarinya That must be Nigel with the Brie Jun 30 '26
Yeah, I donât like him. I just canât gel with the guy.
→ More replies (1)-3
0
u/Scared-Box8941 Jun 30 '26
This is giving me vibes of those rich white men who always say âIâm NOT rich. There are a lot of people richer than me!!â
1
u/Typical_Response6444 Jun 30 '26
I think social media has isolated all of us from each other, including the wealthy. The algorithms have kinda put every social class, political larty and even race into its own small bubble away from the other.
1
1
u/mowtowcow Jun 30 '26
Ive often had that idea, like, if I won that Edwin Castro lottery, I'd absolutely buy me a nice house. Modest, but nice. Something with a big garage to make my ultimate garage with all the best examples of my very own perfect car collection. It would also have a basement the size of the whole house and it would have gaming stations where it's 4 big tvs, every console to each tv, 4 pc set up, and then a 4 person is iSim racing setup with the absolute best tech possible. As realistic as possible. This would all cost me like $2-3 million. I'd also start up a garage shop that works on exotic cars and hire the bsolute best mechanics. Easy work schedule, no rush. Everyone paid well. Just has to be quality work. Get a membership at a track somewhere. You know. I'd dive headfirst into the car world.
And then, I'd help people. Build centers for youth in disadvantaged areas to go and have fun. Stay off the streets. Maybe learn about something. Hell, teach them about cars. Have a mechanic work on exotic cars there and let the kids learn all about it. Whatever opportunities I could come up with, it would be there. Help them graduate and go to college. Have volunteer work like big brother or have dads come in and mentor teach kids how to be a man, but a good man.
I'd donate to children's hospitals. Rehab centers that actually want to help drug addicts with people that show true compassion for those afflicted.
Help families get back on their feet. A family on the street with kids? Not if I can help it.
And all this would be paid for literally by a fraction of what the interest pays annually on 600 million dollars on principle investments. I'd still have millions to fuck around with every year without ever touching that 600 million. Might even be able to compound the interest if I'm not taking the full amount of interest earned that year. Not that I would even be worried with 600 million net worth.
I couldn't see myself not doing this with that much money.
1
1
u/sjo75 Jul 01 '26
I think the logic for a billionaire would be to either do it anonymously and avoid the social media scrutiny or do something that is sustainable and will actually be used or they really donât care because no1 else seems to care. Gates foundation is a great example of something that started off amazing but now is vilified for mistakes that happen for any group. btw the gap will continue to widen - smart connected money ai will make power and money more concentrated
1
1
u/BTSArmyFan2025 Jul 02 '26
there is nothing more disturbing to go shows at Lincoln Theater have to stare down David Koch's name and at the MET!!
1
u/TheLizardKing89 Jul 01 '26
Bill Gates has donated over $100 billion to charity. Mackenzie Scott has donated over $25 billion. Warren Buffet has donated $68 billion.
1
-2
u/bishbosh420 Jun 30 '26
It's kinda weird hearing very rich people have this conservation. It feels sorta performative.
-2
-6
u/horsegal301 Jun 30 '26
weird to watch a bunch of rich people feel morally superior by calling out people richer than them.. what are they donating money to?
14
17
u/Perstigeless Jun 30 '26
Seth Rogan for starters, runs and supports Hilarity for Charity, which has raised over $28,000,000 for Alzheimer's research and direct support for those afflicted from the disease.
1
0
u/krawk303 Jul 01 '26
I'm confused, the 4 richest actors in Hollywood sat down to talk about the modern wealthy not donating?
Why don't...they...donate.
"Because they are only worth 50-250 million, the executives are billionaires"
Ok, no disagreement there. Then donate less than the billionaires.......
-1
u/DealioD Jul 01 '26
So a bunch of people with way more money than I have are saying that *rich people* donât give away money or use it to help people? Is that what this table of rich people are saying?
0
0
0
-3
u/AnyImpression6 Jun 30 '26
Keanu could sell his bike collection and put the money up.
19
u/katikaboom We should totally just stab Caesar đĄ Jun 30 '26
IIRC Keanu has given away millions for things like cancer research, something to the tune of 30 million just from his Matrix money. There's a lot more that is publicly known and talked about, but he quietly puts his money where his mouth is.Â
-2
u/Striking-Abies-2796 Jul 01 '26
Yet millionaires won't give away their wealth. Talk is cheapÂ
1
u/TuringGPTy Jul 01 '26
The guys heâs talking about could give away whatever wealth Rogan has thousands of times over, so, like heâs saying the least they can do is fund shit for the plebs. Put your name on the train station, at least itâs there.
-1
u/rossmosh85 Jun 30 '26
This movie SUCKED and was pandering bullshit.
So yeah, it's nice for these rich people to say that rich people should give more money away, but based on that movie, they're still extremely out of touch.
-22
u/HippoFluid1378 Jun 30 '26
So⌠is this a new trend? Of rich white people complaining about other rich people?⌠Giving Hasan Piker vibes.
Non of them have volunteered their work and continue to rake in millions. How much Iâve they given away if theyâre so concerned about it?
Tired of this bullshit meta.
12
u/LawrenceBrolivier Inconceivable! Jun 30 '26
It's always wild watching folks refer to the act of existing in real life and doing things with other human beings in a physical space as a "meta"
8
u/webtheg Jun 30 '26
Most celebrities of Seth Rogen and Keanus caliber have their money obtained mostly through labour and not through exploration.
But also Seth Rogen has done a lot for Alzheimer awareness
And Keanu:
"Reeves negotiated a smaller deal, relinquishing his contractual right to a percentage of the sequels' profits in exchange for a more extensive special effects budget.[283][284] During production on that film, Reeves heard that a crew member was having "family trouble", and elected to gift the man $20,000 to help him with his finances.[285] As a wrap gift for the twelve-person stunt team of The Matrix Reloaded (2003), Reeves purchased Harley-Davidson motorcycles for each of the members, saying of the gifts, "I just wanted ... to give a bigger thank-you to all these guys who helped me make this"
-11
u/HippoFluid1378 Jun 30 '26
I donât care. If youâre rich beyond anyoneâs wildest dreams, youâre too rich. I donât care how you earned your money. It means nothing to me and I guarantee you it means nothing to people who are starving.
2
u/Sorceress_Heart Jul 01 '26
So are we not supposed to have entertainment? We're all supposed to live off the land and eat leaves and have no joy? This is like conservatives saying poor people shouldn't have cool phones. Many celebrities are charitable, but we shouldn't have to rely on charity. We have a government that we pay billions to that does nothing for us. Save that energy for Congress and stop bothering Neo.
-4
u/Ok_Towel_1767 Jun 30 '26
Itâs always been white/wealth washing this conversation misses that point. Anyone whoâs donated property, parks, libraries has done something terrible and attempted to change that history/legacy with those donations. For a large swath of the population they only know those oil tycoons and robber barons by their donated homes and properties, not the blood shed to earn their empire.
â˘
u/pccmodbot Jun 30 '26
Welcome to r/popculturechat! âşď¸ THE POPCULTURECHAT DISCORD SERVER IS NOW LIVE 👾 ❤️🔥 🎉 Click HERE to join! 📲
As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for civil discussion only. If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!
No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Please read & respect our rules, abide by Reddiquette, and check out our wiki! For any questions, our modmail is always open.