If you accepted money from Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi (or any member of his family), now would be a good time to give it back. It's what Nelly Furtado is doing, anyway—the pop star Tweeted earlier that she received a million dollars from "the Qaddafi clan" to perform a show in Italy four years ago ("for guests at a hotel," she elaborated); in the same Tweet she wrote she planned to "donate" the money (to charity, one hopes). And while we obviously applaud her decision, it seems as though the best bet going forward, for Furtado as for all musicians, is to, you know, not perform shows for dictators or their families. In the meantime, we eagerly await responses from the following pop stars regarding the money that they received, at one time or another, from "the Qaddafi clan":

  • Mariah Carey, paid $1 million Seif al-Islam al-Qaddafi (son of Muammar) for a four-song New Year's Eve concert at St. Barts.
  • Beyoncé, who was paid "an undisclosed fee" by another Muammar son, Muatassim, for another St. Bart's New Year's Eve concert in 2010.
  • Usher, who played at the same concert as Beyoncé, also for an undisclosed fee.

While we're at it, perhaps we should ask the oil companies that profited from Qaddafi's violent autocracy to donate that money to charity! Ha, kidding, obviously, that's totally different, for reasons we will think of later. (Capitalism? Or something?)

Furtado's Tweet:

In 2007, I received 1million$ from the Qaddafi clan to perform a 45 min. Show for guests at a hotel in Italy. I am going to donate the $Mon Feb 28 12:34:30 via Twitter for BlackBerry®

Nelly Furtado
NellyFurtado