Mariah Carey Joins Beyonce, Nelly Furtado in Donating Gadhafi Money

March 3, 2011 -- Singer Mariah Carey is joining the ranks of celebrities including Beyonce and Nelly Furtado who are making amends, financial and otherwise, for past performances for the family of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Carey announced in a statement today she did not know she was performing for Gadhafi's son, Mutassim, at a New Year's Eve party in 2008 on the Caribbean island of St. Barts -- a performance that netted her a reported $1 million -- and said she would give the proceeds from an upcoming song to human rights charities.

"I was naive and unaware of who I was booked to perform for," Carey said in a statement posted on her website today. "I feel horrible and embarrassed to have participated in this mess. Going forward, this is a lesson for all artists to learn from. We need to be more aware and take more responsibility regardless of who books our shows. Ultimately we as artists are to be held accountable."

Nelly Furtado was the first major celebrity to announce on Tuesday that she was donating money she earned from a 2007 performance for Gadhafi's "clan." Beyonce, who performed for Mutassim Gadhafi on New Year's Eve 2009, followed suit and said she already donated the money to a Hatian relief fund after fans began demanding she too give it away. Until the statement today, representatives for Carey stayed silent despite repeated requests for comment.

In addition to Carey's statement, a post by ShowBiz411.com on Carey's website said all proceeds from a song called "Save the Day" from an upcoming album will be donated for human rights issues.

The presence of the celebrities at the parties for the Gadhafi family was unveiled not by gossip magazines, but by leaked U.S. State Department documents posted on the website WikiLeaks.

Video of the New Year's 2009 party, shot by a party-goer and obtained by ABC News, shows an intimate affair with Beyonce singing several songs just feet away from attendees.

Representatives for Usher, who performed at the same 2009 bash as Beyonce, have not responded to requests for comment.

CLICK HERE to go inside Mutassim's New Years Eve 2009 party.

Wikileaks: Some Libyans 'Embarrassed' By Gadhafi Son's Behavior

Despite the heavy celebrity attendance, "Mutassim seemed to be surprised by the fact that his [2010] party was photographed and the focus of international media attention," a U.S. official said in a 2010 State Department cable posted on the website Wikileaks. "His carousing and extravagance angered some [Libyan] locals, who viewed his activities as impious and embarrassing to the nation."

But if the lavish soiree was embarrassing to some, other international news coverage the family received just a few days before was worse. Then, one of Mutassim's seven brothers, Hannibal, allegedly physically abused his wife, who was later told to tell investigators she had been injured in an "accident," a U.S. official said in a leaked cable.

Hannibal and another brother, Saadi, have "checkered histories of unseemly behavior and public scuffles with authorities in Europe and elsewhere," the official said. According to the same document, another of Gadhafi's sons, Saif al-Arab, described as a "ne'er-do-well," lives in Munich where he "pursues ill-defined business interests and spends much time partying."

"The German Ambassador has expressed concern to us that it is only a matter of time before there is an incident involving him," the official said.

Some of Gadhafi's sons brought so much negative attention to the family that the Libyan dictator assigned a high government official to play the role of a "minder of the more troublesome [Gadhafi] offspring," according to the documents. After an incident in which Saadi disobeyed his father's orders and traveled to Rome, Italy, that minder was removed and Gadhafi's daughter, Aisha, reportedly filled the void.

The Wikileaks disclosures are not news, however, to the Libyan people, who have been well aware of the exploits of the Gadhafi children for years, according to Mansour El-Kikhia, chairman of the department of political science and geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio and author of "Libya's Qaddafi: The Politics of Contradiction".

"We have been talking about what they do, how spoiled they are, how much they abuse their position, how much they manipulated the system to serve themselves," El-Kikhia told ABC News.