Do we like Billy Joel?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A clean record on harm and a decent one on character, with real giving, but the record is thin on LGBTQ+ issues either way.
Billy Joel is the Hicksville kid from Long Island who turned barroom storytelling into one of the biggest catalogues in American pop. He never really left home in spirit, and a lot of his charity money has landed back on Long Island.
The recent stoush is about a film, not a scandal. A biopic called Billy & Me, told from the view of his first manager and directed by John Ottman, was announced in 2026. His rep told Variety it was legally and professionally misguided, and said the makers were told in 2021 they lacked his life rights and the music rights.
On business, a Long Island contractor sued in 2020, alleging it was fired from a home renovation and its plans were then handed to a new architect. A spokesman for the Joels rejected the accusations, saying the contractor was let go over structural defects. The case ended in a settlement in April 2022, with no terms made public.
The harm check comes up clean on what we could find. After the 2017 Charlottesville rally, Joel wore a Star of David on stage at Madison Square Garden. He later said Trump should have condemned the rally's Nazis and white supremacists outright. Asked by Bill Maher about 'woke' critics, he said he's inured to it, which is a shrug rather than an attack on anyone. We found nothing from him on trans rights, climate or vaccines, in either direction, so that part is an honest gap.
The good stuff is real. In 2016 he put up $1 million to help keep the Long Island High School for the Arts open, and in 2022 he and his wife pledged another $1.5 million over five years through The Joel Foundation. The Library of Congress also gave him its Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in 2014.
So would we back him? Yes. He isn't a campaigner for our side, and the record on LGBTQ+ matters is quiet, but nothing harmful turned up and what we did find leans decent. Quiet and decent beats loud and dodgy.