The Simpsons co-creator Sam Simon is donating millions of dollars to charity after being given prognosis of terminal colon cancer with three to six months to live.
THR: You said to Marc Maron on his podcast that you’ve been aggressive about the giving you’ve done, that you are giving most of all you can give. At what point did you feel morally compelled to go all the way?
Simon: One thing is, I get pleasure from it. I love it. I don’t feel like it is an obligation. One of the things about animal rights, which is not the only thing that I care about in this world, is that your money can bring success. I see results. There is stuff happening, really good stuff, every week. I’m not sure you get that with a lot of disease charities. If you were donating to environmental causes for the past 20 years, do you think your money is doing anything? Because I don’t, and I used to support some conservationist stuff — Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund. They’re treading water. Climate change is a big part of their problem. The environment has been destroyed, basically.
Well I was *hoping* for something inspirational, as I’d seen the “60 Minutes” profile on Simon a few years back, and I knew he was a big supporter of animal rescue, particularly dogs.
But seriously, the environment hasn’t been “destroyed”! He might as well say that so many dogs have been euthanized that what’s the point in saving the ones that are left?
But not to grouse TOO much, kudos to him both for his charitable giving, and for the fun he gave us on “The Simpsons”.
Dogspeed, Sam Simon!