‘Breaking Bad’ Stars Raise Over $1 Million for Charity
To mark the end of Breaking Bad, stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul have helped raise over $1 million for charity through show-themed contests.
The actors have used the donation site Omaze to offer the chance to win a ride in the show’s famed RV/roving meth lab, the Hollywood Reporter reveals. Omaze expects Paul’s current campaign – which ends September 25th – to raise over $750,000 for the Kind Campaign, an anti-bullying nonprofit his wife Lauren Parsekian helped found. The winning donor will then get the opportunity to ride in the RV to the show’s finale screening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Bryan Cranston Reveals Walter White’s Motives
In the silly promo clip Paul made, he warned the winner that he might cry on his/her shoulder when the finale ends. He also promised the lucky donor that he will definitely do shots with him/her, re-enact any Breaking Bad scene desired and, to top it all off, lead the way to Cranston’s house and “toilet paper the shit out of it.”
About a month ago, Cranston used Omaze to raise $303,000 for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. One lucky fan joined him, Paul, Anna Gunn (Skyler), Bob Odenkirk (Saul) and show creator Vince Gilligan for a trip in the RV to a screening of this season’s premiere.
The appeal of Omaze is that it allows celebrities with busy schedules the ability to work for a few hours upfront and then engage a huge number of fans over a long period of time. Omaze takes 20 percent of the donations and then donates the rest to the star’s nonprofit.
“He just liked the idea that everyone had a chance to do it,” Omaze co-founder Matt Pohlson said of Cranston. “He’s a man-of-the-people type of person. He liked that it wasn’t the classic rubber-chicken event dinner type of thing. Breaking Bad fans are such passionate fans and he wanted to give them all an opportunity.”
The finale of Breaking Bad will air as a special 75-minute episode on September 29th at 9 p.m. EST on AMC. Watch Paul’s endearing charity video here: