Sir Elton John may suffer from a fiery onstage temper and an understandable frustration with airport crowds, but he has also been a noted adviser to numerous younger artists who struggle with substance abuse (e.g. Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Adams), not to mention he’s one of the most charitable rock stars around. Now in the past weekend alone, two stories have hit the news beast as proof of just that.
Former President Bill Clinton’s charity, the William J. Clinton Foundation, finally revealed its donor list (the subject of a decent amount of criticism/conspiracy theories during the ‘08 Presidential Election) and the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s massive contribution stands out among the lot. John’s charity gave somewhere between $5 million and $10 million to Clinton’s foundation, which counts HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment around the world among its top endeavors.
Giving money is one thing, but what about helping a certain former gay-bashing rapper kick his addiction to prescription pills? As it turns out, John probably didn’t stop by a Detroit studio a while back to lay down some tracks with his former Grammy duet partner, Eminem, but instead to be a kind of sponsor for the recovering addict.
“I reached out to him and told him, ‘Look, I’m going through a problem and I need your advice’,” Eminem told the Metro Times (via Rolling Stone), while John also spoke out to BBC Radio, revealing that the pair have been close for at least a year and a half as friends and confidants. Awww.