Sean “P. Diddy” Combs and Mark Wahlberg will donate one million bottles of water from their water company, AQUAhydrate, to those affected by Flint, Michigan’s widespread water crisis.
According to a statement on Combs’ Revolt.tv platform, the rapper-producer and actor are teaming with Michigan native Eminem and rapper Wiz Khalifa to deliver the bottles to Flint, where thousands of residents have been sickened by lead contamination in the public water supply.
“The AQUAhydrate team is doing everything it can to help with this issue,” Combs said in a statement. “Mark and I made an initial pledge to donate and are committed to the continued aid to Flint residents as long as they need it. We hope this commitment will inspire others to get involved as well.”
An initial shipment of 5,000 cases is expected to reach the city early this week. AQUAhydrate is reportedly working with the Red Cross and other nonprofit groups in Flint to distribute the water to those in need.
Flint’s water crisis began in 2014, when the city stopped drawing its water from Detroit’s municipal water system and instead began drawing from the Flint River, in an effort to cut costs. According to Fox News, the water from the Flint River was not treated to prevent lead from getting into the water supply, and thousands have reportedly been sickened due to lead poisoning.
Residents have been told to drink bottled water, and the state attorney general warned Monday that parents should also not bathe their children using tap water.
Combs has previously spoken out about Flint’s water crisis, reposting a video to his Instagram page last week that claimed the crisis is a “racial killing” and “a version of genocide.”
A video posted by Puff Daddy (@iamdiddy) on Jan 18, 2016 at 1:00pm PST
Combs and Wahlberg became the public faces of the Los Angeles-based AQUAhydrate in 2013, when both invested in the company.