Psy Admits "Penny Per YouTube View" Donation Promise Was "Poorly Thought Out"
Psy is hoping that the success of his new single (which he recently revealed will not be titled "Assaravia”) will help him out of his financial woes following a promise he made before “Gangnam Style” virally took off on YouTube.
On July 14, 2012 (one day before the “Gangnam Style” was revealed), the K-pop singer promised that for every view of the vid, he would donate one cent to charity. The move was a way to drum up anticipation for the visual and help the K-pop rapper land another hit.
“Before ‘Gangnam Style,’ my videos never did well on YouTube,” he tells Fuse. “I wanted as many people as possible to hear my new song, so I thought I’d appeal to their charitable side and promise to donate one penny for every view. This was poorly thought out.”
At press time, the video to “Gangnam Style” (aka the most-viewed video ever on YouTube) has 1,486,360,211 views, meaning Psy owes over $14 million dollars in donations.
“Everyone thinks I live a lavish lifestyle since I had one of last year’s biggest hits. The truth is very much the opposite,” the K-pop king says with a laugh before growing quiet as a single tear rolled down his cheek past his signature sunglasses.
A plan is currently in place to have Psy pay out the donations in increments of $15,000 per month, meaning he will need to make payments for almost 80 years. If Psy cannot pay back the promised amount during his lifetime, the burden will fall onto his twin daughters.
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