The actor and his charity, Kids Charity, have come under fire for selling a series of clothing donated by his children to charities.
The charity’s chief executive, Paul O’Neill, admitted the charity was “shocked” by the allegations but defended the way in which the items were sold, saying they were sold “in good faith”.
Mr O’Neil said he had “never sold anything to the Kids Charity and I have no knowledge of the items that have been sold” to charity organisations.
The first item to come under scrutiny was the collection of kids clothes donated by Anthony Anderson, the actor who plays Steve and Tony in the hit BBC series Doctor Who.
In an online statement, Kids’ Charity said it was “disturbed” by claims that items donated by the actor were sold as “a charity”.
Mr Anderson has been the star of the show for four series, including the first three seasons of the current series, which ran from 2003 to 2007.
His charity has also donated hundreds of items to various charities including the Royal Australian and Australian Conservation Foundation.
But on Friday, Kids said its “long-standing policy” was to donate the items to charities who could benefit children, and that its “business practices” were “fully transparent”.
The charity said the items “were donated for a good cause”.
“We are shocked that anyone would sell these items to a charity that we are proud to support,” it said.
“We never intended to profit from them, nor did we intend to sell them to anyone.
We have no idea what they are worth and would have never asked anyone to buy them.””
We believe in the power of charity and we believe in sharing our gifts with as many children as possible.”
The charity added that the items sold were not “designed to be used in any way for profit”.
“There is nothing in the catalogue or in the website that says the items have been resold,” the statement said.
Topics:children,christmas-celebration,advertising,france,antarctica