Rihanna donates $4.2M to domestic abuse victims affected by lockdown

Rihanna has donated $4.2 million (£3.37M) to victims of domestic violence who have been affected by the ongoing coronavirus lockdowns.

Teaming up with twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, the joint grant will be donated to the Los Angeles Mayor’s Fund.

The city’s shelters for victims of domestic abuse have been overcrowded during the ongoing pandemic, with reports that the LA Housing Authority has had to turn away 90 people a week since the city was ordered to stay at home during the lockdown.

The grant will go towards proving shelter, food and counselling for up to 90 people a week for the next five months.

Earlier this week, Dorsey pledged to donate a $1bn (£800m) to fund coronavirus research in a bid to “disarm this pandemic.”

Dorsey, who co-founded Twitter in 2006 and later created payments company Square, confirmed that he was donating $1bn of Square shares to a charitable fundcalled Start Small, in order to “fund global Covid-19 relief.”

The 43-year-old tech mogul, who is worth approximately $3.9bn, said the donation was equivalent to about “28% of my wealth.”  It marks the biggest single donation to the global fight against coronavirus to date.

He added: “After we disarm this pandemic, the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI.”

Meanwhile, Rihanna also reportedly offered $5 million to help impoverished countries affected by the coronavirus last month, with $700,000 worth of ventilators also going to her home country of Barbados.

According to TMZ, Rihanna made the donation through her Clara Lionel Foundation. The money will also be used to support local food banks, purchase medical equipment for doctors and nurses on the frontlines, and provide testing in poor nations such as Haiti and Malawi.