Jeff Bezos gives CNN’s Van Jones $100 MILLION for charity

Jeff Bezos has just given CNN‘s Van Jones and celebrity chef Jose Andres $100 million each to donate to the charity of their choice just hours after spending $5.5billion on his 10-minute space journey. 

The world’s richest man gave the two men what he called a ‘courage and civility award’ in Texas on Tuesday following his successful space launch.

They were both on hand to accept their $100 million, which was announced at the conclusion of Bezos’ space launch press conference.   

Jones is a CNN political contributor and founder of Dream Corps, which is a nonprofit for criminal justice reform.

As he accepted the award, an emotional Jones said: ‘Sometimes dreams come true’ and that ‘the headlines around the world should be anything is possible if you believe’.

‘Lauren and Jeff don’t do nothing small – they just don’t do it. They dream big, they love big, they bet big. You bet on me and I appreciate it,’ he said, while mentioning Bezos’ girlfriend Lauren Sanchez.  

Jones went on to gush over Bezos, saying the billionaire had lifted ‘the ceiling off of people’s dreams of humanity’.  

‘That’s an important thing. Don’t be mad about it. When you see somebody reaching for the heavens, be glad, because a lot more heaven is up there to reach for. And we can do that together,’ Jones said.

‘If this small group of people can make miracles happen in outer space, a bigger group of people can make miracles happen down here, and we’re going to do it.’

Jones revealed that Bezos had called him over the weekend to inform him of the award. 

‘He said that he thought that my attempts to try to bring people together across party lines, across racial lines had been inspiring, and can I use some more support,’ Jones said. 

‘I really didn’t know what to say. 

‘You got people coming out of prisons, you have got people on reservations, you have got people in Appalachia, you have got people at the border, all people.

‘This country is unbelievable what people are doing, and how much heart they have and how much love they have. They don’t care about these things we divide over sometime and they need more support. If we can connect them with more resources, it is going to make a big difference.’ 

Bezos said his new philanthropic initiative will recognize leaders who ‘pursue solutions with courage’. 

It is not clear how many Bezos plans to hand out. 

The second award was given to Spanish chef Jose Andres, who is founder of World Central Kitchen – a non-profit devoted to providing meals in the wake of natural disasters. 

Bezos announced earlier this year that he was stepping down as Amazon CEO to devote more time to philanthropy. 

His ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, is renowned for having already donated a huge portion of her wealth since divorcing Bezos in 2019. 

Scott – who helped create Amazon – gave away almost $6 billion last year alone.