New York, May 19, 2009 – Bette Midler had a perfectly rational reason to get rapper 50 Cent involved in restoring a park in his boyhood neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens.  “50 is an extremely generous guy and he’s really rich now, and he loves his neighborhood, so we pitched him this idea,” Midler told us at the New York Restoration Project spring picnic.  Midler is thrilled that Fitty was enthusiastic about her idea, especially in these tough economic times.  “He made a killing with that VitaminWater, which everybody knows about – I’m sure people are knocking on his door,” she deadpanned. 

Fitty says he was immediately sold on the project.  “When I got a chance to see some of the different things that [Midler] was doing, I wanted to be a part of it.  I was already making $1 million in donations per year through G-Unity Foundation, and then this was a way to have it directly affect people in the community.”

Alas, 50 and Bette did not sing a duet at the spring picnic, which was inside a tent in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan.  But we were treated to a surprise performance by Tony Bennett! 

Comic Judy Gold emceed, and Martha Stewart, Tim Gunn, Gayle King and In the Heights star Lin-Manuel Miranda laughed at Midler’s foul-mouthed fundraising schtick.