Salt Bae Got Emotional About The Turkey Quake & He's Stepping Up Big-Time To Help (VIDEO)
Salt Bae has faced plenty of criticism in recent years for his astronomical restaurant prices and his hunger for social media fame, but the celebrity chef appears to be setting all of that aside right now for his earthquake-hit homeland of Turkey.
The chef, whose real name is Nusret Gokce, announced on his Instagram page Thursday that he's donating about US$1.3 million to relief efforts in Turkey, where tens of thousands were killed in an earthquake last week.
"I am calling out the whole world," he says in translated remarks on the video, which was posted on his restaurant's Nusr-Et account. "All together, come together. We are Turkey."
Salt Bae doesn't quite break down in his video, but he does seem more steely and serious than he usually does.
It wasn't immediately clear when he'd make the donation or whether it has already gone through, although the organization he mentioned, the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), is handling relief efforts in Turkey.
The Nusr-Et chain started in Turkey before Salt Bae used his meme status to spread it around the world, and now it seems like he wants to give back a bit to his home country.
Salt Bae has posted several messages in recent days about the catastrophe, including a video from last week with Tommy Hilfiger talking about the quake.
His replies have been full of people calling for him to do more than attach his name to the tragedy.
"They need to donate funds to Turkey!" reads on top comment on the Hilfiger video. "Not just talking!"
Salt Bae also sent several Nusr-Et-branded trucks to the disaster-hit zones to hand out food, although at critics point out, he couldn't resist shooting some fancy drone footage to cut into a video for his Instagram.
The 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Turkey and nearby Syria on February 6, toppling buildings and causing widespread devastation.
The latest counts on Thursday listed nearly 42,000 dead from the quake, including more than 36,000 in Turkey.
