Ashton Kutcher Shocks an Emotional Ellen DeGeneres With a $4 Million Donation
Ashton Kutcher surprised Ellen DeGeneres on the episode of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" by showing up on Wednesday, May 23, but that was just the start of it. For her 60th birthday, the actor shocked Ellen by donating $4 million to her wildlife fund, doing so using an app from the cryptocurrency company called Ripple.
Kutcher revealed her birthday surprise, late as it was given that DeGeneres turned 60 this January, along with his investment partner Guy Oseary. The tech company that they thought looked "interesting," called Ripple, in turn, expressed that they are interested in making a hefty donation to The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund.
DeGeneres and her wife, Portia de Rossi, has put together The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund, which is now focused on saving the indigenous gorillas in Rwanda, in East Africa.
"You never ask anyone for help ever," the 40-year old actor pointed out, according to E! News. It would seem like he and Ellen met at a beach where he learned about the talk show host's new foundation.
"You explained to me that if you weren't doing this that what you would be working on is that project, right? You would be saving the gorillas," Kutcher continued. Oseary, who also manages Sound Ventures VC alongside Kutcher, also pitched in.
"I promised you on that call [on your birthday] that I'd be there to help you and [Ashton and I] are brothers and we're here to help you," he told her. The actor went on to explain that Sound Ventures VC — that is, him and Oseary — was looking at a tech company called Ripple.
Ripple is also known to have developed a cryptocurrency token, now called XRP.
"So, we were meeting with these folks and they were talking to us about the ethics of this company," Kutcher explained about where the $4-million donation is coming from. He added that according to Ripple, they are a platform that actually really care about being an ethical company, and are now looking for ways to give a portion of their revenue to people and groups that are "doing good in the world," he continued.
After the actor revealed the sizable donation, Ellen looked close to tearing up and was unable to speak for a few moments.
"That was the most amazing thing. Thank you. I love you both so much, you know that," she said at the end.
At that point Kutcher brought out a smartphone, explaining that while other people would come out with a big check to hand over ceremoniously, they are doing things a bit differently this time.
"We can actually transfer it into Rwandan franks right now right here and all we have to do is push this button and it's in your account," the actor explained as he held up the phone running the Ripple app.
"I'd like to push it, I'd like to push it real good," DeGeneres jokingly replied.
