Jeff bezos to award dolly Parton Us$100mil

NEW YORK: Jeff Bezos (above), the world’s fourth-richest person with a Us$123.9bil (Rm577bil) fortune, has named Dolly Parton (below) the latest recipient of his Courage and Civility award, handing the music legend Us$100mil (Rm466mil) to direct to any charities she chooses.

“She gives with her heart. What she’s done for kids and literacy and so many other things, is just incredible,” Bezos, 58, said in a video posted on social media.

“I’ve always said, ‘I try to put my money where my heart is, and I think you do the same thing,’” Parton said in the video.

“I’ll do my best to do good things with this money. Thank you, Jeff.”

Parton, 76, has operated a foundation that has distributed books to children globally.

A strong advocate of vaccination, she supported Moderna Inc’s shot via a Us$1mil (Rm4.6mil) donation to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for coronavirus research.

Bezos has previously awarded Us$100mil apiece to chef Jose Andres, whose World Central Kitchen feeds people in disaster-stricken areas, and Van Jones, the founder of Dream.org.