Graced with money, influence, and visibility, celebrities hold an immense power in today’s world. Some use that power to evade the laws of regular citizens, while others decide to use that power to help said citizens. Many stars have partnered with organizations or have become UN Goodwill Ambassadors, while others have taken action into their own hands.
In 2022 Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a 12-minute video on YouTube "for those who have gone down a path of hate" in which he which he urges anti-semites and other racist and discriminatory hate groups to choose a better path. The action star showed clips from his visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp where he made headlines in 2022 for reckoning with his father’s own Nazi past, and used it as a launch pad "to talk to you if you've found yourself thinking anyone is inferior and out to get you because of their religion or the color of their skin or their gender."
“There has never been a successful movement based on hate,” Schwarzenegger said. “Nazis? Losers. The Confederacy? Losers. The Apartheid movement? Losers. I don’t want you to be a loser. I don’t want you to be weak… despite all my friends who might say, ‘Arnold, don’t talk to those people. It’s not worth it,’ I don’t care what they say. I care about you. I think you’re worth it. I know nobody is perfect… I can understand how people can fall into a trap of prejudice and hate.” He emphasized that a life of hate is a miserable one, but, opting for the sympathetic route against hate speech, he insisted that it's never too late to change.
Everyone knows the world is in need of help, whether it’s social inequality or the impending environmental collapse. Sometimes the pressure to change the world is too much for people to think about if they’re already struggling to provide enough for themselves. That’s where the celebrity aid really shines. They fill in the gaps, often with money, but also by raising awareness and influencing the masses, so they can return a slice of their good fortune to the world.Click through the gallery to see a heartwarming list of celebrities who have taken a stand for the issues they care about.