In a reply to a link-baiting column titled “The Mystery of Steve Jobs’s Public Giving” published in The New York Times, U2’s Bono publicly thanked Steve Jobs for his (and Apple’s) “invaluable” support in fighting AIDS in Africa. Here’s what he said:
Re “The Mystery of Jobs’s Public Giving,” by Andrew Ross Sorkin (DealBook, Aug. 30):
As a founder of (Product)RED, I’d like to point out that Apple’s contribution to our fight against AIDS in Africa has been invaluable. Through the sale of (RED) products, Apple has been (RED)’s largest contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria – giving tens of millions of dollars that have transformed the lives of more than two million Africans through H.I.V. testing, treatment and counseling. This is serious and significant. And Apple’s involvement has encouraged other companies to step up.
Steve Jobs said when we first approached him about (RED), “There is nothing better than the chance to save lives.”
I’m proud to know him; he’s a poetic fellow, an artist and a businessman. Just because he’s been extremely busy, that doesn’t mean that he and his wife, Laurene, have not been thinking about these things. You don’t have to be a friend of his to know what a private person he is or that he doesn’t do things by halves.
BONO, Dublin, Sept. 1, 2011
Now to be fair, Sorkin obviously cares about philanthropy, but that doesn’t justifies his attack on a man who left Apple for medical reasons (and also helped make the world a better place).
On the other hand we want to praise Bono for taking a stand. 🙂
[Via: TUAW]