What if Regis Doesn't Like My Charity?

Factual Questions
1

Suppose I’m a celebrity of sorts, and I get invited to participate in a celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Now, on those shows, the celebrities’ winnings go to a charity of the celebrity’s choice.

Now further suppose that Regis asks me what charity I’m supporting, and I decide to give the money to an organization that is likely to upset quite a few people. For example, the NRA or the National Right-to-Life Center.

Does WWTBAM (or ABC or Disney?) have veto power over what charities participants can support with their winnings? If someone were to support a divisive charity, would the producers merely try to talk them out of it? Do they have a list of acceptable and unacceptable charities?

DISCLAIMER #1: I’m not saying that the NRA or the National Right-to-Life Center are charities in the strictest sense. But you get the idea.

DISCLAIMER #2: This same question goes for other televised charity events, like celebrity Jeopardy! or a celebrity pro-am golf tournament.

2

Remember that the producer can invite (or ban) anyone they want to for whatever reason. The charity would be agreed to along with the invitation arrangements, and there just wouldn’t be an invitation if ABC thought it would be bad for their business. For that reason, Charlton Heston wouldn’t even be considered for an invitation - he’s radioactive even if he picked the Red Cross instead of the NRA.

For “regular” contestants, the rules filed with the FCC wor WWTBAM provide that anyone who gets randomly selected from the pool of those who have qualified and are eligible gets on the show, no matter what. Other US shows use their judgment in selecting contestants from their eligible pools, according to their own rules.