Billionaire Philip Anschutz said reports of his Anschutz Foundation giving almost $200,000 to anti-gay conservative activists were ‘fake news’ and ‘garbage’

Billionaire Philip Anschutz, the businessman whose company organizes Coachella, has denied donating funds to anti-LGBT groups after reports resurfaced linking his charitable foundation to the organizations.

Coachella 2017: Beyoncé, Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar to headline festival Read more

Anschutz, 77, has reaped billions across the oil, telecom, real estate and entertainment industries, but his Anschutz Foundation drew criticism last year from Freedom For All Americans, a group that supports gay rights. The campaign last year reported that the Anschutz Foundation had given almost $200,000 to anti-gay conservative activists, including the Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom. Both groups have been condemned for anti-gay rights activism by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a left-leaning watchdog of hate groups.



This week, several music blogs picked up last year’s report, after the full lineup for this year’s Coachella music festival was revealed this week. Coachella is organized by the Anschutz Entertainment Group.

In a statement sent to Rolling Stone, Anschutz called the recent reports “fake news” and “garbage”. He denied that he would ever knowingly support any anti-gay cause.

“I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation,” Anschutz said. “Neither I nor the Foundation fund any organization with the purpose or expectation that it would finance anti-LGBTQ initiatives.”

He added that when anti-gay activity by recipients has come to his attention, “we have immediately ceased all contributions to such groups”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Philip Anschutz: ‘I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation.’ Photograph: David Zalubowski/AP

“It’s encouraging to see that even those who’ve funded groups opposed to LGBT equality in the past are willing to change their views and come around to opposing discrimination,” said Matt McTighe, executive director of Freedom for All Americans. “We appreciate the willingness of Philip Anschutz and the Anschutz Foundation take steps to ensure that their resources are no longer used to undermine protections for LGBT Americans.”

Anschutz also said that across his businesses, he employs “ a wealth of diverse individuals”.

“The only criteria on which they are judged is the quality of their job performance,” he wrote. “We do not tolerate discrimination in any form.”

A major Republican donor, Anschutz gave more than $1m to conservative candidates and political fundraising groups in 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog. Employees of the Anschutz Corporation also leaned heavily toward Republican candidates. The businessman has attended political events hosted by the Koch brothers, the billionaire scions of an oil fortune and also Republican donors, and Anschutz has donated to their political group Americans for Prosperity, which opposes climate change research and regulations. Anschutz’s natural gas company has also sued small towns in pursuit of fracking rights, and the businessman has invested heavily in a gigantic Wyoming wind farm.

Asked about possible donations to groups opposed to climate change research and action, a spokesman for AEG, the entertainment company, said he could not comment on any specific charities. He noted that AEG has invested heavily in sustainability at several venues, including solar panels at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and composting at the O2 Center in London.

Coachella’s three 2017 headline acts are vocal liberals. The members of Radiohead, especially frontman Thom Yorke, have frequently spoken out about global warming and criticized oil executives and conservative politicians. Beyoncé actively campaigned for Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election and performed at Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Kendrick Lamar has also met Obama on several occasions, and race, inequality and police violence are frequent themes of his work.