They raised $100 million for California wildfire victims.Then they sent it almost everywhere except the people who lost their homes. In January 2025, more than 30 major artists packed two arenas for FireAid. Billie Eilish. Lady Gaga. The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Stevie Wonder. Olivia Rodrigo. The pitch was simple: help the families whose houses burned in the Palisades and Eaton fires.What actually happened:$100,000 to the California Native Vote Project
$250,000 to CORE
$100,000 to fund a podcast
$500,000 to the Black Music Action Coalition
$500,000 to the California Charter Schools Association
Hundreds of thousands more to political advocacy groups
Victims who lost everything are still asking where the money is. Organizers say they never planned to give cash directly to people. They funneled it through nonprofits instead. Some of those groups did real relief work. Others have missions that look a lot more like politics, advocacy, and programming than rebuilding burned neighborhoods.Gavin Newsom’s office says the state had nothing to do with it. Fine. Then why the silence while families who donated, streamed, and believed the pitch watch the money go sideways?This is how these things work now. A tragedy happens. Celebrities show up. The cameras roll. The money gets raised. Then it disappears into a web of “community partners” and preferred causes. $100 million was supposed to mean something to the people who lost everything. It didn’t.