Dear Gossips,   

The Hollywood Reporter yesterday published an interesting piece by Gary Baum about Brad Pitt and all his f-ckery with the Make It Right Foundation. A refresher on the situation if you need it: after Hurricane Katrina, Brad put on his hero cape and flew into New Orleans promising to build sustainable homes for families who had been displaced. But the homes were poorly designed and pretty much fell apart, so the homeowners sued Brad and Make It Right. Nobody was really talking about this, though, because he’s Brad Pitt and we don’t want to hear anything bad about him. But the homeowners allege that he was dipping and dodging, as he and the foundation “ignored… complaints and then vanished as the houses continued to decay”. According to the class action lawsuit, Brad and Make It Right basically ghosted these people.

 

Then, last August, a solution materialised. Global Green came forward and offered to compensate homeowners with a $20.5 million deal. So that’s it, right? Brad Pitt is in the clear? Nope. It’s even more of a mess now. 

Global Green never had the money. Somehow no one involved in the settlement, including Brad and Make It Right, checked whether or not Global Green could cover the pledge. And now the homeowners still don’t have their money, they’re still living in substandard conditions, and it sounds like the lawsuit between the homeowners and Brad Pitt/Make It Right is back on. 

 

Brad’s team released a statement insisting that he and Make It Right did nothing wrong. They trusted that Global Green had the money and are blaming Global Green for misrepresenting their ability to come through on the promise. Global Green is saying that Brad’s sh-tty reputation has made it hard for them to fundraise. 

But, finger-pointing aside, none of it changes the fact that these homes were bullsh-t to begin with. And these homeowners have been done dirty multiple times. And it’s been almost 20 years now and they still don’t have a safe place to live. And Brad Pitt is at the centre of this dispute. 

So he and his people can’t be happy that The Hollywood Reporter is putting the heat on this situation. It’s not a good look – that these families have been left hanging for nearly two decades after trusting that Brad and his foundation could help them get back on their feet after the hurricane. That said, it hasn’t really gotten all that much play. Could be because it’s a complicated case. Or, you know, it could be that no one wants to tarnish the golden glow of Brad Pitt. 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey