Even before Donald Trump first ran for president, celebrities wanted to throw cold water on him – and, ten years ago this month, they did.
In 2014, at the behest of Homer Simpson, boxer Mike Tyson and NFL quarterback Vince McMahon – Miss USA and Miss Universe dumped buckets of ice water on Trump’s head as he sat on the roof of Trump Tower.
“I guess they want to see whether or not it’s my real hair, which it is,” Trump says in a YouTube video posted August 28, 2014 by the Trump Organization, when he accepted the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.
The 2014 ALS Challenge was a campaign where people would post videos of themselves being soaked with bucks of ice water in order to raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
“I’ve been called out by everybody for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: Homer Simpson, Mike Tyson, Vince McMahon. Like, everybody’s going crazy over this thing,” Trump explains:
“So, here’s what I’m going to do: Miss Universe and Miss USA., I own it, they’re here, they’re really going to do a number on me. I’m challenging President Obama, my son Donald, my son Eric.”
“Let’s go, ladies,” Trump says, before being drenched with ice and water from two buckets by the two pageant winners.
Both Donald and Eric Trump accepted their father’s challenge, as a YouTube video posted September 2, 2014 by the Trump Organization shows. However, Pres. Barack Obama did not subject himself to the indignity of being drenched with a bucket of ice water.
Trump and other celebrities (sans Obama) inspired over 17 million people around the world to dump ice water on their heads and donate a total of $115 million to ALS organizations, the ALS Association notes on a webpage commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Today, the ALS Association is asking supporters keep ALS awareness alive by retaking the Ice Bucket Challenge and posting video of their ice water bath – which Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R-RI) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) did earlier this month.
While doctors and researchers are still trying to find a cure for ALS, donations have funded important advancements since the last Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014. For example, two new treatments have been approved by the FDA (Radicava™ in 2017 and Qalsody in 2023) and the number of ALS clinics has more than doubled to 226 nationwide.