Spielberg donates $500,000 to gun control march

Director joins Oprah, Clooney in funding upcoming rally; Gal Gadot, Barbra Streisand, Mayim Bialik speak out in favor.

By AMY SPIRO
Updated: FEBRUARY 22, 2018 00:51
High school students hold up signs bearing the names of the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as they march for safer gun laws (photo credit: JONATHAN DRAKE / REUTERS)
High school students hold up signs bearing the names of the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as they march for safer gun laws
(photo credit: JONATHAN DRAKE / REUTERS)
Director Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, have pledged $500,000 to the upcoming “March for Our Lives” rally calling for gun control legislation in the United States.
The rally, slated for March 24 in Washington, is being organized in part by student survivors of the recent shooting at a school in Parkland, Florida, which left 17 dead.
In an emailed statement, Spielberg and Capshaw wrote that: “The young students in Florida and now across the country are already demonstrating their leadership with a confidence and maturity that belies their ages.”
The couple is joining a slew of A-list Hollywood figures who have pledged financial support for the rally.
Film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, Marilyn, also pledged $500,000, as did George Clooney and his wife Amal, and Oprah Winfrey.
The Spielbergs are far from the only Jewish celebrities speaking out in favor of gun control.
Last week, Gal Gadot, who tends to steer away from political involvement, posted an image on Twitter of a young girl holding up a sign reading “Protect kids not guns.”

Singing legend Barbra Streisand tweeted last week: “We have seen 18 school shootings in 45 days this year and the only thing coming out of the White House and this Congress are ethereal thoughts and prayers and excuses to delay sensible gun control.”
She later expressed support for the student activists, saying: “I am so proud of them for demanding change on sensible gun control.”
Director Judd Apatow also used his Twitter account to stand with the student survivors who are calling for change. “Can you imagine being young and realizing adults will allow you to get murdered just so they can keep getting NRA money,” he wrote. “How furious would you be? That’s how every kid in America feels.”

Bette Midler also called to support the rally and spoke out strongly for the need for gun control. “GET REAL!” she wrote on Twitter. “It’s not the mentally ill! It’s the GUNS! BAN ASSAULT RIFLES AND BAR SALES TO CONVICTED CRIMINALS! Why is that so hard to get??”

Mayim Bialik, who is often politically outspoken on social media, also had plenty to say on the issue. “Mass shootings like the one in Parkland, Florida, will keep happening unless we take action to change gun laws in America,” she wrote on Sunday.
Bialik has also pledged support for the rally and wrote on Tuesday: “People who believe this gun control thing is an immovable issue are in the minority in this country and I won’t let their hatred or the way politicians vote convince me otherwise.”
Reuters contributed to this report.


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