TORONTO -- More than $300,000 has been raised for Toronto’s SickKids Foundation with a little help from Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds—and his ugly Christmas sweater.
Five days before Christmas, the Vancouver-born star pledged on social media to match all donations made to the foundation before midnight on Dec. 24, up to $100,000.
In order to push the message forward, Reynolds created an animated video featuring a sweater he was tricked into wearing by his fellow actors Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.
The video, which was widely circulated on social media, tells the story of a red and green sweater with a large bow that gets passed up by every customer, except for one man who is looking for an outfit for a party that specifies “fun” attire.
The promotional video for SickKids ends with a number of photographs of young kids at the hospital wearing Reynolds' sweater, with the words “every holiday story deserves a magical ending.”
Other stars joined the campaign, including Jackman and Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews, who both posted photographs of themselves wearing the sweater to social media.
On Wednesday afternoon, SickKids Foundation announced that more than $300,000 had been raised through the campaign.
As for Reynolds, his first tweet of 2020 was to thank everyone who donated, tagging the campaign as #SuperheroSweater.
In September, the “Deadpool” actor also took part in a fantasy football league in order to win money for the SickKids Foundation.
