Noted feline enthusiast Billy Corgan downright LOVES cats. The Smashing Pumpkins leader famously appeared on the cover of Paws Chicago Magazine in 2014, and then apparently had to defend his decision to do so when Anderson Cooper audaciously called out the rock star? Not Cooper’s finest moment, but I digress. Speaking of Paws Chicago, Corgan and his partner Chloé Mendel work with the Chicago-area no-kill animal shelter regularly (the whole family appeared on the cover of the magazine in 2018) and have just announced their latest effort.
The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan graciously appears on the cover of the cat rescue magazine Paws Chicago again.
It’s a Siamese dream. pic.twitter.com/F3jFdmgTXp— Eric Alper
(@ThatEricAlper) August 14, 2018
To raise money for Paws, Corgan and Mendel have joined forces with personalized celebrity video platform Cameo. They’re offering 100 video messages at a rate of $250/each (or $4,500 for a business). 100 percent of the proceeds go towards Paws Chicago, so that means, assuming all 100 slots are filled, they’ll be donating at least $25,000 (shout out to all the math majors out there who didn’t need a calculator to figure that out).
They recorded a Cameo promo clip, which you can watch here, from the coffee house they own in Chicago, Madame ZuZu’s. The description indicates that “for every Cameo purchased, you will also get a mystery prize! One of the gifts may be something special courtesy of Reverend Guitars.” There’s also two “Acoustic Xmas song videos” offered up at the business price. The campaign launched today and at press time, 21 of the 100 cameos were already purchased. So if you like The Smashing Pumpkins and have a Billy Corgan-like affinity for cats (or dogs), this might be for you.