Fonda’s Kent State gig includes perks, airfare
— Joe Walsh and David Crosby are donating their time to perform at a benefit concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the infamous National Guard shootings at Kent State University, the university reported Friday.
The university also provided a contract that states the $83,000 being paid to Jane Fonda to speak during the commemoration covers her airfare. But the school also will provide Fonda with a one-bedroom suite and one single room at a first-class hotel for two nights as well as meals and a “dark-colored town car” during her stay.
Some details about the university’s deals with Crosby, Walsh and Fonda were released at the request of cleveland.com. But the university did not say whether the school is covering travel, meals and lodgings for Crosby and Walsh.
The school announced this week that the two musicians would appear the evening of May 2 at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.
Earlier this month, the university announced that Fonda, an Academy Award winning actress and anti-war activist, would speak the evening of May 3. Her contract calls for her to participate in an interview with Kent State media, respond to moderated questions, and take part in a private reception.
The invitation to Fonda has drawn criticism, particularly from veterans, because of she paid a visit to Hanoi during the Vietnam War and was photographed with North Vietnamese soldiers at an anti-aircraft battery.
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a decorated U.S. Army veteran, this week publicly objected to Kent State paying for Fonda to appear because she “betrayed our service members.”
Kent State’s 18-member May Commemoration Advisory Committee, made up of students, faculty, university leaders, May witnesses and survivors, have said previously that Fonda is a “fitting voice of activism that spans many generations young and old and aligns with the pillars and vision of the 50th commemoration.”