As of August 25, 2014, the ALS Ice Bucket Donations have reached a whopping US$70.2 million. The challenge has made it across the globe, with participants ranging from Benedict Cumberbatch to Kumamon. While the challenge is raising awareness of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), new participants are finding their own ways to make the challenge more interesting.
One Korean-American rock band has challenged the leaders of three Asian countries to pick up that bucket and do their part to raise awareness and money for the neurodegenerative disease.
Royal Pirates, a three-piece Korean-American band has been rocking the YouTube scene since 2008. They released their first album in Japan on March 24, 2014 and have found great success both in Korea, Japan and on YouTube. They were nominated for the Ice Bucket Challenge and in turn have nominated three big leaders in Asia, specifically the leaders of Korea, China and Japan.
They completed the challenge and announced their nominations at a press conference in Japan in front of reporters and fans alike and passed the bucket to Prime Minister Abe Shinzo of Japan, President Park Geun-hye of Korea and President Xi Jinping of China.
Their reasons for nominating these three heads of state?
“We challenge them because we want peace in East Asia and we want all the fans and all of us to be happy and get along together.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li9mvCnt2nM
They have certainly set a high bar to be followed as one member dumped an entire cooler of ice water on their head. Perhaps they weren’t affected by the cold though, because as one YouTube commenter wrote, “They must have melted the ice because they’re so freaking hot!!” They certainly look like they enjoyed themselves and more donations towards ALS are always welcome.
If you’ve been living under a rock recently, the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge asks people who are nominated to donate $100 or dump a bucket of ice water on their head with a donation of a minimum of $10. While there have been many complaints and grievances about the challenge, in the end, it’s all to raise awareness and funding for ALS. Remember, you don’t have to dump water on your head, or be nominated to donate to good causes; you can do that all by yourself!
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