I agreed with many of the commenters who speculated that the bizarre story about Brad Pitt and Charlize Theron sounded like it came from his camp. Soon after Angelina filed for divorce, Brad hired several crisis managers and PR professionals, and I feel like we’ve been seeing his team’s handiwork over the past two years. They use The Sun and Page Six to start rumors and bash Angelina, and they use People and Us Weekly to soften his image. And they use The Blast and TMZ too. To be fair, since Angelina hired Samantha Bley Dejean as her divorce lawyer, there’s been so much less leaking from either side. So it makes sense that Brad wants to start a new gossip chapter and that Charlize is the way to do it. Unfortunately, I’m calling shenanigans. About 12 hours after the Sun broke the Charlize-Brad story, Page Six broke this story about Make It Right NOLA:
Brad Pitt is caught in a hurricane of litigation over defective houses his Make It Right foundation built in New Orleans and he can’t find a graceful exit from the storm. Make It Right appears to be barely functioning. The charity reportedly stopped building new houses in 2016. Its website hasn’t been updated since December 2015, and social-media accounts went idle in mid-2017. Like most nonprofit orgs, Make It Right has publicly posted its tax filings and financial statements for several years, but the last available filing is for the 2014 tax year. Years ago, the charity partnered with other groups to build veterans housing in Newark, New Jersey, and affordable apartments in Kansas City, Missouri.
New Orleans homeowners are suing Pitt and the foundation, claiming fraud over defective designs and shoddy construction. Pitt and other former foundation officers are petitioning to be removed from that suit, and he and the organization are suing the architect who oversaw the project in the city’s devastated Lower Ninth Ward. The charity has made repairs to rotting and collapsed porches.
In December, the city of New Orleans warned the 109 Make It Right homeowners that natural-gas meters in their houses might be improperly installed — a dangerous condition that could lead to gas leaks and explosions. For Pitt — an architectural buff who hoped to pioneer new designs for affordable, green housing — the venture has been an embarrassing disaster.
“The easy thing for him would have been to walk away, but then he would be accused of abandoning the people he promised to help,” my source said.
Pitt — after buying a mansion in the French Quarter and raising millions for the foundation after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — was busy making movies. He let other people run the project, which aimed to build 150 green-energy houses.
“Brad was a co-founder, but he wasn’t on the board for years,” the source said. “When the problems arose, he committed to help make it right.”
Ron Austin, the lawyer representing the homeowners, told me, “According to their 2015 tax filings, the foundation is insolvent. If Mr. Pitt succeeds in getting himself removed from the lawsuit, these residents will be without any remedy. It’s obvious he is trying to cut and run.” Austin said his clients are stuck with 30-year mortgages. “It’s sad and scary. They don’t have anywhere to go, and they can’t afford to move.” Emails and phone calls to the foundation were not answered.
How does this not look horrible for Brad on like ten different levels? I get that he wasn’t there for the day-to-day running of the foundation, but he LITERALLY started the foundation and he took all the credit and became the face of Make It Right NOLA. He was on the Today Show giving interviews about it and on the cover of Architectural Digest to promote it and hosting fundraisers and all of that. And now it turns out that he basically became an absentee slum lord – he threw up some shoddy houses, trapped lower-income people into 30-year mortgages and then walked away when he got bored and moved on to the next thing. Yeah, I can see why he would prefer to talk about Charlize.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
He is such a tool.
This is just horrible beyond words.
How could Brad scam people who already lost so much in the hurricane?
He took money from desperate people who hoped he could give them a new affordable home.
How can people like him sleepst night? I have more respect for people who don’t do charity than people like Brad who do fake/fraudulent charity.
The Charlize story (which clearly came from his camp. See: careful mentions of no drinking) makes a lot more sense now. Trying to distract. Yikes, not a good look!
It absolutely does! Like, as soon as I read this story I was like – yep, makes sense now.
Exactly thats his MO..
Do you think Charlize will bolt?
Bolt? From what’s come out so far about them being part of the watch advertisement, I don’t think there’s anything to bolt from! They were never dating! 🤷♀️
She already denied it and her people didn’t seem too happy that the tabs were using her non connection with Sean Penn to make it seem credible. LoL
This is probably the fastest denial from one of his faux dating stories so far. It’s clear she doesn’t want to be romantically linked to him.
Theron was pissed alright that she’s being used in this stupid showmance cooked up by Pitt, lol
“Brad and Charlize have spent time together through the Breitling SA brand and have worked with that brand together,” but there is nothing going on “beyond that.”, and that their mutual friend, “Sean Penn definitely did not introduce them. Charlize has no relationship with Sean.”
Quick and to the point. Nothing to see here, move on please.
I’m surprised Page 6 is reporting this. Check bounced?
The foundation likely committed fraud and neglience … and whatever it is called when you build shoddy housing and sell that for a full price.
Pitt was the only one who cared. He did care about New Orleans. Now he gets bludgeoned for mistakes which were likely not his own. Does anybody really think that Pitt was personally in charge to control if it was the right insulation or the right kind of cladding? And the person who was in charge (engineer, architect, construction site manager, government construction site controller) is unlikely to be one of Pitt’s direct assistants.
It is hardly the case that Pitt even wrote the cheque himself. Likely he gave supervision to some company who didn’t do their job.
And if you look at the mistakes which were made: rotting walls, bad cladding … there is a need for more oversight on construction projects because it is the simple Joe and the simple Jane who get ripped off by such mistakes as they pay for a house which then rots away under their feet.
According to the court documents, Brad knew since 2010 that there were major issues with the project.
And what did he do? Absolutely nothing…
If he can take credit for the good stuff then he can take credit for the bad stuff as well.
exactly. success has a thousand fathers, failure is an orphan. he only wants good press but bails when the cameras are gone and other natural disasters get news media coverage
He fled Nola and even sold their family home out there claiming they would buy a new one further away from the hustle and bustle. Lies lies lies. When he sold that home he was ditching them and he stopped doing the galas. It was over and he knew it. Lawyer thinks he was buying his time stretching it out because they knew a lawsuit was coming.
Yoitube all the Ellen degenerous butt kissing videos where he claims the material used is non toxic and it’s a way for the future neighborhoods to be built.. he was really kissing his own ass during that time. what a shame. What a fraud. What a sham.
THIS is what privilege looks like. Damn, eh?
what a narcissist
Brad is so phony,his philanthropic”image” and work ended as soon as Angie dumped his Ass,now he’s the Brad “The Artist”🙄..So he couldn’t give a damn now that there’s issue with Make it Right.He was willing to take the praise when things were going well & now that people are questioning him,he’s MIA & in denial mode..Sooo transparent..
It’s even worse when you consider that Make It Right actually made these people take out mortgages on these homes.
Lots of organizations build homes (like Habitat for Humanity), but usually, if a mortgage is involved, it is a capped mortgage, often interest-free and set at a certain percentage of income (usually 20-30%). It’s affordable.
These people took out 30-year conventional mortgages, and the average home price was $150,000 (a far cry for HFH’s average of around $90,000). That is not a small payment each month (My house cost $150,000, so I’m aware of what a mortgage payment on such a house would look like). Why weren’t the houses subsidized? Why not work with a more established home-building organization or get tax credits through HUD to help offset the cost? Because that would have required a lot more work then just throwing up some shoddy homes and charging what appears to be market rate for them.
Eff this guy. And screw Make It Right, too. My city deserves better.
They knew coming out the GATE that new fangled wood they were using was crap…but they took those poor folks money and built those BS houses anyway…
Brad’s pockets needs to be EMPTIED…but of course…they won’t…and those folks credit is DESTROYED with no recourse…
Now he claims that he doesn’t know who started the rumor that his real passion is architecture. Lmao he’s just an architect tourist now. HE himself is quoted as saying architecture is his real passion.
I wonder what all the celebs that donated and participated in his galas feel about this mess especially Ellen the main butt kisser. Wonder what Angelina thinks about it.
Here is his quote in that Architecture Digest magazine where he’s on the cover promoting MIR project.
“Whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion”
Pitt has said previously: “I’m really into architecture, structure and design. Give me anything and I’ll design it. I’m a bit nutty with it.”
A little after Angelina filed for divorce there was an article about Jolie Pitt Foundation, I think it was written by Roger Friedman. It was all about how Angie didn’t donate anything to JPF that year and Brad did beacuse he’s so generous (LOL) and how he has another super successful foundation (MIR) which has 45 mil$ in assets. Wonder what happened to all that money?
Yes yes yes. I feel like some financial investigations need to happen here.
I found an article from March 2013 which shows the $45 million total raised at that time. They continued with gala fundraisers a year beyond that, so the total is even higher.
They only built 109 houses. That people still had to pay money towards.
WHERE IS THE MONEY???
There were tons of articles praising him, where he took lots of credit, and people involved all bragged about the “high quality” materials and safety aspects. Ha.
These people deserve to have their homes repaired or rebuilt, or be fully compensated for them.
That $45 million could have helped so many more people.
Angelina was the first donator to the Malala Foundation, she’s been working continuously since 2001 for refugees and to bring light to many subjects and corners of the world.
Pitt is a sort of leech and spindoctor, he’s emulated the style of every girlfriend he’s ever had, boasted himself as an architect and photographer at different points of his life, but takes none of the responsibility of following through with his projects.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he started MIR because he was emulating Angelina’s work but then when his life got difficult he just checked out.
Typical celeb style ego stroking and self aggrandizement made that much worse by being at the expense of everyday people.
The Fail’s readers have had the audacity to comment that if they’d moved into an unfinished house, the onus would’ve been on them to fix it themselves – for heaven’s sake; at this rate Pitt could be revealed as Hitler’s lovechild and they’d still be cheering for him. What does it take to get *some* women to STOP supporting the rotten barrel scrapings such as Pitt, Depp, Chris Brown? I’m really intrigued: what?
Nothing will stop it. Women HATE women.
I live here in New Orleans. Born & raised. I can’t be angry at Brad. We have some really good people & times like you see on television and other media, but day to day regular living here is quite hellish for most anyone who isn’t RICH and good people who try to do right get frustrated and stymied by the enormity of the bad shysters here who don’t mean anyone a reasonable amount of good. Oprah tried to get the public school system on track. Google what happened with that. There was also Ed Blakely who somehow helped San Francisco after an earthquake, but came up short when he got to New Orleans. Brad may have meant well, but New Orleans is a continuously huge child that needs constant work. More than he was willing or able to put into it
He might have meant well and it didn’t work out but that’s not an excuse for him to cut and run on these poor folks. He needs to at least take some of those funding out and pay for the damages to these houses, especially since he’s aware of these problems early on in 2014. With more than $45 million raised, I would think at least half or 1/3 of it are still somewhere to salvage these homes. So, where are those money gone? Don’t tell me they are all used up to build only 109 houses out of 150!!
New Orleans is notoriously corrupt, isn’t it? No doubt a lot of that money simply got siphoned off into personal pockets and is untraceable. As usual. (I think the court proceedings won’t find or solve anything … at some point, I think he should just settle out of court, cut a cheque or cheques, apologize to all concerned, and call it a day.)
So, doesn’t excuse Pitt, but I also think he’s just not that bright, so even saying he should have known better, eeeeeehhhhhh … at least, his $ ADVISERS should have flagged this as an issue and raised it with him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re as greedy as anyone else in Hollywood. Actually, if he’s a founder, board member, and donor, there’s really no excuse. What a clusterf$#@.
This is a man who has a problem with accepting personal responsibility for any wrongdoing so of course he won’t settle out of court. Just look at his ongoing battle with Jolie where he’s clearly at fault for the family’s demise and yet he’s blaming his ex for parental alienation and everything else. Dude is a lost cause.
I wonder 🤔- Did Brad Pitt know the company he hired to plan and build these houses was using cheap materials and labor? Was he the one trying to cut costs or did he get scammed too? I guess we will find out from the lawsuit he has against the architect.
Even if he did not know, he portrayed himself as someone who had an understanding of architecture. He shouldn’t have done that. I think it’s going to cost him.
“he threw up some shoddy houses, trapped lower-income people into 30-year mortgages and then walked away when he got bored and moved on to the next thing”
Brad’s evil plan has finally been exposed.