Stephen Colbert raised $1 million for Puerto Rico by getting celebrities to share embarrassing photos
Lin-Manuel Miranda took the number past the milestone
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Your support makes all the difference.Have you been seeing awkward pubescent photos of celebrities on your social media timelines over the last few weeks? Well, that’s all Stephen Colbert and Nick Kroll’s fault.
The late-night host, along with the actor, asked people to post photos of themselves as awkward teens along with the hashtags #PuberMe and #PuertoRicoRelief.
For each photo posted on social media, the AmeriCone Dream Fund —which receives money from Colbert's Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream ice cream — would donate $1,000 to One America Appeal, a hurricane relief effort led by former Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
From those pubescent pictures, $233,000 was raised. In addition, the cast of the Netflix series Big Mouth put together another $100, bringing the total to $333,000. Speaking on his show, Colbert revealed the employees of CBS had "dug around in the Big Bang Theory's couch cushions" to match the $333,000, bringing the total to $666,000.
Colbert then revealed that, on behalf of all the none-celebrities who had posted photos, the AmeriCone Dream Fund would donate an additional $266,000, bringing the total to $999,999.
Finally, to take the total to $1 million, Colbert asked one last celebrity to post an awkward photo. Enter Lin-Manuel Miranda, who took the total past the milestone.
The Hamilton writer has been highly critical of the American government’s response to the Puerto Rico crisis, saying Donald Trump would be going “straight to hell” on Twitter.
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