David Johansen’s Cancer Treatment Fundraiser Lists Donations by Martin Scorsese, Colin Jost, More
Hollywood and music legends look to be pouring money into a fundraiser for New York Dolls singer and Saturday Night Live alum David Johansen, who is battling brain cancer.
Martin Scorsese, Colin Jost, Sony Music’s Rob Stringer, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Hipgnosis Song Fund’s Merck Mercuriadis, the George Lopez Foundation and more notable names appear on a list of donations made to Johansen’s Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which provides financial assistance to artists struggling with health challenges.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
“David is a legend but he’s also my very real very sick dad,” Johansen’s daughter, Leah Hennessy, shared in an Instagram Story on Monday. The statement came in partnership with the Johansen’s Sweet Relief page reveals he has been in treatment for stage 4 cancer “for most of the past decade.”
On the fund’s donations page, Scorsese (who directed the 2022 Johansen documentary Personality Crisis), the George Lopez Foundation, Greg Whiteley, Ira Levy, Andrew Douglas, Craig Campbell, Yul Vasquez, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Kenny Sweet and Lenny Kaye are listed as having donated funds ranging from $250 to $1,000. Mike Doughty from the band Soul Coughing gave $2,500 and Jost gave $5,000.
Though Hennessy did not specify her father’s diagnosis, she noted that his illness progressed to a brain tumor about five years ago and that “there have been complications ever since.”
“He’s never made his diagnosis public, as he and my mother Mara are generally very private people, but we feel compelled to share this now, due to the increasingly severe financial burden our family is facing,” Hennessy wrote. “To make matters worse, the day after Thanksgiving, David fell down the stairs and broke his back in two places.”
Johansen also offered a statement to Rolling Stone, saying, “We’ve been living with my illness for a long time, still having fun, seeing friends and family, carrying on, but this tumble the day after Thanksgiving really brought us to a whole new level of debilitation. This is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I’ve never been one to ask for help, but this is an emergency. Thank you.”
It’s unclear how much Johansen’s fund has raised. The site specifies that monies will be used for “full-time nursing, physical therapy and funding for day to day vital living expenses.”
In a short video released on Friday, Valentine’s Day, via Sweet Relief, Johansen thanked people for “giving us a big boost here with our fundraising campaign.”
“I’ve never asked for help in my life and lately [my wife] Mara’s been teaching me the beauty of when your chips are down asking for help,” he said in the message in which he appeared to be lying in bed with wife Mara Hennessey next to him. “That’s what I’m doing, and it seems to be working out really marvelously.”
Feb. 14, 3:15 p.m. This story has been updated with a message from Johansen.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
