Celebrity Birthday Bashes as Charity Fundraisers: Yay or Nay?

Those interested in attending Leonardo DiCaprio‘s 39th birthday celebration last month were expected to arrive with open wallets. We’re not talking about the generous bar tab; the actor’s party doubled as a fundraiser for his humbly named environmental charity, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

The New York Post reports on a (supposedly) growing trend involving celebs who charge the guests attending their hoity-toity soirees with required donations at the door. The “fees” may be as little as $20, but one particularly blunt birthday boy tells the Post that this can be something of a problem:

“If they don’t cough up the money, it’s more about them.