Owner of Coachella Parent Corporation AEG Philip Anschutz Accused of Supporting Anti-LGBTQ Groups, Dismisses Claims as “Fake News”

Every year many people look forward to the number of different festivals that come around. These lineups always feature artists that fans have been waiting all year to see. Sometimes having to wait through a number of artists they don’t care about  just to possibly get a glimpse of artist that has inspired or changed their lives. One of these festivals, possibly the biggest festival is Coachella.

Recently, reported by TEEN VOGUE, the founder of Coachella, Philip Anschutz, has come under fire by the public for donations he has made to organizations against the LGBTQ.

Philip is the owner of a company called AEG. This company owns a number of different sports teams and venues. Coachella is one of the events that happens to be ran by AEG.

Anshutz released a statement in regards to the claims that have been recently made about his donations. In his statement he did not deny that money from his foundation had a hand in funding Anti-LGBTQ organizations

“Recent claims published in the media that I am anti-LGBTQ are nothing more than fake news – it is all garbage. I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation. We are fortunate to employ a wealth of diverse individuals throughout our family of companies, all of whom are important to us – the only criteria on which they are judged is the quality of their job performance; we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.

Both The Anschutz Foundation and I contribute to numerous organizations that pursue a wide range of causes. Neither I nor the Foundation fund any organization with the purpose or expectation that it would finance anti-LGBTQ initiatives, and when it has come to my attention or the attention of The Anschutz Foundation that certain organizations either the Foundation or I have funded have been supporting such causes, we have immediately ceased all contributions to such groups.”

Potential Coachella attendees are sure to be a little more hesitant to spending their money towards something they feel does not represent their values and possibly will look at artists like Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar to make a decision on whether or not they will stand for something their fans are not comfortable with.