{"id":23623,"date":"2017-01-06T23:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/"},"modified":"2017-01-06T23:30:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T23:30:00","slug":"coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just hours after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coachella.com\/lineup\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">line-up of this year&apos;s Coachella festival<\/a> was made public, stories about how its owner <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.com\/2017\/01\/coachella-owner-homophobic-climate-change-denier\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">financed anti-gay and climate-change-denying groups<\/a> started to make headlines. Phil Anschutz, one of the richest men in America, owns Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the world&apos;s largest owner of sports teams and venues. AEG, in turn, owns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goldenvoice.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Goldenvoice<\/a>, the once-independent group of promoters responsible for organizing the Coachella and Desert Trip festivals.<\/p>\n<p>The former oil tycoon has long been known as a supporter of anti-gay groups, even earning a place on LGBTQ rights group Freedom for All Americans&apos; list of &#x201C;Enemies of Equality.&#x201D;&#xA0; As the festival that his company owns is gearing up for yet another successful year, stories of the billionaire&apos;s controversial donations have resurfaced. Anschutz, however, has refuted these claims, calling them &#x201C;fake news&#x201D; and &#x201C;garbage.&#x201D;<\/p>\n<p>&#x201C;I unequivocally support the rights of all people without regard to sexual orientation,&#x201D; Anschutz wrote. We are fortunate to employ a wealth of diverse individuals throughout our family of companies, all of whom are important to us &#x2013; the only criteria on which they are judged is the quality of their job performance; we do not tolerate discrimination in any form.&#x201D;<\/p>\n<p>The CEO, however, did not deny contributing to such groups in the past, however. According to Freedom for All Americans, the Anschutz Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thinglink.com\/scene\/802999913783754753\" rel=\"nofollow\">donated to three anti-LGBTQ groups<\/a> &#8211; Alliance Defending Freedom, the National Christian Foundation, and the Family Research Council &#8211; between 2010 and 2013. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2012\/01\/16\/the-man-who-owns-l-a\" rel=\"nofollow\">New Yorker profile<\/a> from 2012 reported that Anschutz &#x201C;contributed to the Institute for American Values, whose founder, David Blankenhorn, opposes same-sex marriage.&#x201D;<\/p>\n<p>The same article reported that the businessman has sued the IRS &#x201C;at least seven times since 1987&#x201D; to get out of paying taxes, and &#x201C;has been a guest at the twice-a-year political gatherings of David and Charles Koch, the secretive anti-government oil billionaires.&#x201D; The festival owner has also reportedly &#x201C;contributed to Americans for Prosperity, backed by the Koch brothers, which lobbies against global-warming science and for reducing regulation of the oil and gas industry.&#x201D;<\/p>\n<p>Anschutz <a href=\"https:\/\/jezebel.com\/coachella-owner-claims-he-has-ceased-contributing-to-lg-1790851577\" rel=\"nofollow\">reportedly donated<\/a> to a Colorado group who fought against the legalization of marijuana, a substance which is undoubtedly quite popular among Coachella festival-goers. In light of these accusations, some are considering a boycott of the festival, although it is worth remembering that Goldenvoice are still free to book and manage the festival without Anschutz&apos;s direct involvement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billionaire Phil Anschutz also supported climate change deniers and anti-union media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3036],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups - Merry Jane<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups - Merry Jane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Billionaire Phil Anschutz also supported climate change deniers and anti-union media.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Merry Jane\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1118\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"610\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MJ Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MJ Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"MJ Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b\"},\"headline\":\"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/\"},\"wordCount\":444,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"NEWS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/\",\"name\":\"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups - Merry Jane\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg\",\"width\":1118,\"height\":610},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/\",\"name\":\"Merry Jane\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Merry Jane\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png\",\"width\":956,\"height\":88,\"caption\":\"Merry Jane\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b\",\"name\":\"MJ Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MJ Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/author\/mj-staff\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups - Merry Jane","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups - Merry Jane","og_description":"Billionaire Phil Anschutz also supported climate change deniers and anti-union media.","og_url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/","og_site_name":"Merry Jane","article_published_time":"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1118,"height":610,"url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MJ Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MJ Staff","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/"},"author":{"name":"MJ Staff","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b"},"headline":"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups","datePublished":"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/"},"wordCount":444,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg","articleSection":["NEWS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/","name":"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups - Merry Jane","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-06T23:30:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/PhilAnschutz_WIDE.jpg","width":1118,"height":610},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/coachella-owner-phil-anschutz-supported-anit-gay-and-anti-pot-legalization-groups\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Coachella Festival Owner Supported Anti-Gay and Anti-Pot-Legalization Groups"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/","name":"Merry Jane","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#organization","name":"Merry Jane","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/logo_merry_jane.png","width":956,"height":88,"caption":"Merry Jane"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b90d5b22bd5e702cf8cbd8e406675f7b","name":"MJ Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1042620b319206535ffcd82ff50db8fb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MJ Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/author\/mj-staff\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23623"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}