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Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Alice In Chains among artists who reportedly used COVID grant for parties, travel and luxury items
Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Alice in Chains are reportedly among the artists who spent US tax-payer funded COVID relief grants on luxury items, travel, and parties.The funding, called the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2020, and aimed to subsidise musicians and venues who were impacted by pandemic-related closures.Now, a new report from Business Insider has found that a handful of big artists, including Wayne, Brown and Alice in Chains claimed millions from the grant before spending it in lavish ways.The publication reveals that Wayne received $8.9million from the tax-payer-funded grant, spending over $1.3million on private-jet flights and over $460,000 on clothes and accessories, including many from luxury brands like Gucci and Balenciaga.The rapper reportedly put $175,000 towards “a music festival promoting his marijuana brand, GKUA” as well as “flights and luxury hotel rooms for women whose connection to Lil Wayne’s touring operation was unclear, including a waitress at a Hooters-type restaurant and a porn actress.”Insider also alleges that Wayne claimed $88,000 for a concert in Coachella, California that he didn’t end up performing at. They report that, when reaching out to him via text to comment, Wayne responded with “a sexually explicit overture to a reporter and did not respond to questions.”Elsewhere, the artist and athlete management firm NKSFB received at least $207million in grant money, of which they took $7million.