Jeff Bezos, the Amazon (AMZN) founder and world's wealthiest man, said Tuesday after flying to the edge of space that he planned to award $100 million each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef Jos Andrs.
Bezos said that Jones and Andres were free to do "what they want" with the money.
"They can give it all to their own charity," Bezos said at a press conference after his trip to space. "Or they can share the wealth. It is up to them."
The money, Bezos said, was tied to a "surprise" philanthropic initiative he wanted to announce called the Courage and Civility Award.
The award aims to honor those who have "demonstrated courage" and tried to be a unifier in a divisive world, Bezos added.
"We need unifiers and not vilifiers," Bezos said. "We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe. But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case. But we do have role models."
Jones, accepting the award, said that "sometimes dreams come true."
"You bet on me and I appreciate it," Jones told Bezos, later adding that it was money for him to "give to others who have a similar spirit."
Andrs, who has poured his efforts into feeding those in need around the world, said that the award itself "cannot feed the world on its own."
"But," Andrs added, "this is a start of a new chapter for us."
Anderson Cooper, who was anchoring CNN's special coverage on Tuesday, said on-air after Bezos announced the award that it was "quite a surprise." "None of us knew anything about it," Cooper said.
Like, if I was Van Jones or Jose Andres, I'd be too embarrassed to accept this, and would just ask him to donate it to a charity himself.
Edit: I think the two of them both have charities, so just donate it to that instead. WTF?
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