Raise your hand if this shocks you:
Rock star Sting's celebrity-studded Carnegie Hall charity concert in 2006 to save the world's rainforests raked in millions, but less than half the riches actually funded tree-saving programs, according to charity watchdogs and a Post review of tax records.
It's one of the prime reasons the local arm of Sting's Rainforest Foundation is rated one of New York City's worst charities, according to Charity Navigator.
Some years back, Sting admitted to flying home on his private jet after every performance, no matter where he was, during his then-current concert tour. Polluting the skies night after night just so he could share a glass of Cristal '27 with the missus was a trade-off he was happy to make.
The caricature of celebrity-as-hypocrite is a cliché for a reason: it's true. Like his pals Bono and Madonna, Sting lives in incredible luxury while pontificating on what the rest of us are doing wrong. Bono, you might remember, wanted the British government to spend more money on saving the world, even as he moved his publishing company overseas as a tax dodge. Madonna, meanwhile, has been busily raising money for a charity, Raising Malawi, that appears not to exist. What is it about one-named pop stars and their scheming ways?
