Orlando Bloom raises $71,000 for HIV/AIDS charity with sweaty shirts

Orlando Bloom is putting his hotness to good use in Broadway's recent revival of Romeo and Juliet. Every year around this time, Broadway raises money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDs by auctioning off and selling items (like posters and programs) signed by cast members. Usually the lead will give a short speech and inform the audience of the charity project, so the job went to Bloom. He offered up a different kind of memorabilia, the shirt off his back, literally. By auctioning off two (one from Act 1 and one from Act 2) signed shirts per night over the course of roughly a dozen performances, in addition to Bloom matching bids on some nights, raised a collective $71,000.

According to Variety, Bloom came up with the idea on his own. He said, "I would have auctioned off everything. They’d (the winning bidders) come backstage and we would we’d make a big summit downstairs. We got a Polaroid camera, and they could take my shirt off. And then I’d sign it as Romeo and Orlando. It was cute.” Lucky girls!

In fact, the idea actually belonged to Hugh Jackman, who started the trend in 2004 when he sold his sweaty towel from “The Boy From Oz.” Other celebrities have utilized their stints on Broadway similarly. Daniel Radcliffe regularly offered his bowtie from “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and the jeans he stripped off in “Equus.” Ricky Martin also auctioned his pants at select performances of "Evita" last year.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

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