A renowned artist has been left crushed by Ellen DeGeneres' charity after it asked him to create and donate a sculpture worth $50,000 to its fundraiser, only to snub him when the piece was finished.
Daniel Mazzone, once dubbed 'the next Andy Warhol', is an artist favored by celebrities including baseball stars José Bautista and Marcus Stroman, whose works regularly sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
In a letter to DeGeneres and her charity, which was obtained by DailyMailTV, the Canadian artist and sculptor claims a rep from the Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund asked him last May to make a customized sculpture from his YUME collection that the charity could auction off at its 2019 gala to raise money for its cause.
The animal-loving artist says that he worked for months on the piece, putting his paid work on hold to create it.
He says he was in regular contact with charity staff, who saw pictures of the bunny art work as it progressed.
But when he tried to hand over the finished product, Mazzone claims, the charity 'pretended that they never asked for any of it', and refused to accept his gift.
Artist Daniel Mazzoneclaims claims the Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund asked him to create a custom sculpture last May only to say it never asked for the piece once he had finished. Pictured: Ellen posing behind a gorilla in Rwanda as part of her charity fund in 2018
The animal-loving artist says that he worked for months on the $50,000 piece (pictured), putting his paid work on hold to create it. He says he was in regular contact with charity staff, who saw pictures of the bunny art work as it progressed
In a letter to DeGeneres and her charity, which was obtained by DailyMailTV (pictured), the Canadian artist and sculptor claims a rep from the Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund asked him last May to make a customized sculpture from his YUME collection which the charity could auction off at its 2019 gala to raise money for its cause
'As someone who cares immensely for animals, especially those who are most vulnerable, I put a hold on some of my commissioned pieces in order to spend months working on these customized pieces of art for your foundation in order to make sure they would have them ahead of their 2019 Charity Gala,' Mazzone wrote to DeGeneres in a letter dated February 22.
'After completing the pieces I was a little sad to find out the foundation pretended that they never asked for any of it, even though for almost a year my team and yours have been in constant communication via email and phone.
Pictured: Mazzone's completed piece that he made for Ellen's wildlife charity
'Your foundation admitted that some associates within it misspoke and lied, but that they were still not interested in the $50,000 worth of art or donation.
'This is all fine. I'm totally okay with donating to another charity… but the reason I chose your charity was because for me [Ellen DeGeneres] you're someone I look up to.
'Your team that represents you is turning down large amounts of money and leading-on artists like myself for donations, and then turning their back on us after all is complete.'
A source close to the
