“I love you all,” Billie Eilish told a big group of people, including Mark Zuckerberg, Hailey Bieber, and Chris Rock, at The Wall Street Journal’s Innovator Awards on October 29, “but there’s a few people in here that have a lot more money than me.” She sang the last word of her sentence and flashed the audience a toothy smile. “If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties. Love you guys.”
Her comments were anodyne as far as those about wealth inequality go. No “Tax the rich,” no “Eat the rich,” no “Class war — now.” Eilish couched her critique in love, not once but twice; she even added “no hate.” In a video of the event, it’s clear from the way Eilish scans the room as she speaks that she’s talking directly to the Innovator Awards audience. Her initial not-quite-joke about people in the room having more money than she does is met with awkward laughter, but the rest of the comment goes otherwise unacknowledged. Everyone applauded when Eilish took her leave from the stage, probably because they were happy they didn’t have to think about wealth inequality anymore.
But you know who else is a billionaire? Taylor Swift. You know who Eilish may be indirectly talking about? Taylor Swift. Let the stan wars commence. Since Eilish was gutsy enough to speak on the subject, most of the responses have audited her own net worth, rather than digging into the literal billionaires who sat in the room with her. Whether these commenters are largely Swifties or not, it’s weird to see platforms like X and Instagram — which are run by billionaires — full of people arguing on behalf of billionaires. Do those arguing with Eilish know the filthy rich won’t give them any money for coming to their defense?
Click here to preview your posts with PRO themes ››
As many have been quick to point out, Eilish comes from money. Her parents had a not-insignificant role in the gentrification of Highland Park, a once more affordable neighborhood of Los Angeles. Her net worth is approximately $50 million, which isn’t billions of dollars, but it’s certainly a more comfortable lifestyle for a 23-year-old than most people have. Her boyfriend, Nat Wolff, is the nephew of billionaire Tim Draper, but she’s not likely to be benefiting from that connection in any meaningful way. She is far from an indie artist, but she’s not speaking on their behalf — or even on behalf of “regular people.” Eilish herself could probably afford to have less money, but she looks like a wee Victorian peasant next to the net worth of someone like Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos. Her willingness to articulate how crazy it is that people in that room have so much money is commendable. It’s not likely to change anything with any immediacy, but it made Zuckerberg look really weird in context — weirder than normal — and at the end of the day, that’s priceless. She’s not really a David in the face of big technology’s Goliath, nor is she spitting on The Life of a Showgirl. She’s saying what we’re all thinking whenever we see billionaires rocking ugly outfits at a gala: Give your money away, shorties. You may even like it.
