Matt Sayles / AP
Bruno Mars performs at the 2017 BET Awards.
Thursday, March 26, 2020 | 12:30 p.m.
Pop star Bruno Mars has donated $1 million to an emergency relief fund for MGM Resorts International employees who are out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The estate of late Las Vegas businessman and philanthropist Kirk Kerkorian also donated $2 million to the fund, acting MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle announced in a video message to employees posted this morning.
MGM made its own $1 million donation to the fund this week, and Hornbuckle said he would donate another $100,000.
“There’s nothing easy about telling loyal employees that their lives are being upended because of a global event that’s out of our control,” Hornbuckle said in the video. “This is a temporary state and it will end, but the hardships, I’m afraid, will be real for many of you for some time.”
Payments from the fund will be made directly to service providers for costs associated with employees’ mortgages or rent, utilities and medical bills, MGM officials said.
Mars was in the midst of a Las Vegas residency at the MGM Park Theater when operations were shuttered because of the coronavirus pandemic.
After MGM announced it was closing all of its Strip casinos, Gov. Steve Sisolak on March 17 ordered casinos statewide closed for 30 days to help stem the spread of the virus.
