George Clooney’s star-studded Haiti relief telethon is coming on tonight, on pretty much every channel you could think of. CNN, MTV, ABC, NBC, VH1, and many, many more. Clooney admitted in a new interview that he’s been up for days trying to organize this thing, and last minute guests and performers are still being added today. Meanwhile, there has been some talk of making the guests and performers pay a “cover charge” for entry into the telethon, but it hasn’t really gotten any traction. It might have been a good idea, but I think Clooney is just focused on getting the damn thing on the air without any technical difficulties and he’s probably not focused on trying to force all of his celebrity friends donate seven-figures immediately.
Not to say they aren’t already, though. George himself put up a million dollars, which he will likely announce during the telethon. Also, Leonardo DiCaprio was the first star to put up a million dollars for Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund, with the money being directed to “near-term assistance and long-term recovery efforts.” Here’s more:
George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio are opening up their wallets to help victims in the earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
Clooney is donating $1 million to Friday’s “Hope for Haiti Now” celebrity telethon. He will officially make his donation during the telecast.
He told Entertainment Tonight that he’s been up “three days straight” trying to put together the broadcast, which will air on all four leading U.S. networks, dozens of cable channels and internationally on Internet websites. Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson are among the participants; Beyonce and Madonna have been added as performers.
Meanwhile, DiCaprio also has donated $1 million.
His money will go to the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF) to support near-term assistance and long-term recovery efforts, his rep tells UsMagazine.com.
His donation, dispersed through the Leonardo DiCaprio Fund, which fosters awareness of environmental issues, will help with immediate relief efforts as well as with longer-term redevelopment and infrastructure projects, including a focus towards sustainable development.
“I am grateful for the generous gift Leonardo DiCaprio and his Foundation have made in support of our Clinton Bush Haiti Fund,” former President Clinton said. “Combined with the outpouring of donations from Americans and citizens around the world of all means, this support will go a long way to help save more lives, reach more people with emergency assistance, and help the Haitian people build their nation back stronger and more secure than it was before the earthquake.”
[From Us Weekly]
Beyonce will be performing from London (probably standing right next to Sparkles!), and Madge will perform in New York. Hopefully the divas will keep it to their hits and not try to push some “new material” on us. My guess for Beyonce is “Halo” and for Madge… “Don’t Tell Me”. Wouldn’t that be awesome? I love that song. Ah… Madge. The other musical performers include: Bruce Springsteen, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake and Keith Urban.
Clooney also did an MTV interview that aired last night. He told the audience: “It’s a big world out there, and we all have a lot of responsibility to look out for people who can’t look out for themselves. So what we can do is first and foremost, raise money. Period. That’s it …If I thought we could all pick up shovels and go in there and help without being in the way, I think a lot of people would do that.” I’ll be watching (and donating!).
Clooney at the Golden Globes on January 17, 2010. Credit: FayesVision/WENN.com
very nice
Way to go, boys!
Aw nuts, no Medium tonight.
Yes, I’ll be watching. Probably donating too. Pretty impressive to pull this off in a week’s time, including so many networks willing to air it. Good for him.
Any minute now the negative comments are going to stream in from jaded people who feel it necessary to tear apart a person charitable donations for a plethora of bitter reasons
e.g. “just a million dollars they’re millionaires they can spare more. I gave fifty dollars but I’m middle class so it’s like 20 mill to them.”
Or my personal favorite “mr/mrs. X is such are narcissist they’re only donating to promote themselves” – do you think the struggling recipient of such a donation would care why or how they get 1 million dollars worth of aid?
Anyway my mildly related rant is over now.
On a positive note this tragedy has brought long term goodness in me as when I went to make some donations I thought I really could spare money on a money basis and have now become a monthly donor. (Yes I do want a medal *jokes*)
Impressive. They’re very generous and determined. Can’t wait to hear about the outcome.
good for them.
Yes. Wonderful news for the human spirit. There’s a very long list of names of celebs involved in this project led by George Clooney, many you see frequently on this blog and others. The only possible exclusion of note may be Kanye West (and some reality personalities). Here they are using their visibility to bring awareness and raise as much money as possible for the people of Haiti. But it’s not only celebs, several organizations covering many disciplines are as well. Haiti continues to “trend” on twitter. Heartwarming.
Mediawhores Why do celebs( Sandra Bullock, George Leo Etc )have to announce their donations. Oh yeah its only Brad and Angie ,who donated the day after earthquake ,that are criticized for releasing a press release. I got it
I love this. Leo and George’s millions beside the $1300 that my daughter’s grade 3 class raised. I’m proud of anyone who is doing something.
I’ll be watching too. I’ve already made my donations, would like to do more in a few months or so, but I’m also going to check out the music on itunes after the telethon. I’ve seen it mentioned that the songs will be available to buy and all the proceeds go to the charity.
However you feel about making donations public, George puts himself in the position where he almost has to announce his, because if he didn’t, everyone who knows about the telethon would say “put your money where your mouth is”.
@buenavissta, that’s awesome about your daughter’s class!!! They should be really proud, and I always think it’s great when kids learn early about helping others.
For the record, though I hate to even say it at risk of restarting the argument – I don’t think anyone was really critical of the Brange for their donation or that press release, but for the unnecessary one they released a day prior to it. But moving on, I think it’s great how many celebs are donating large amounts, and really impressive how schools, churches, and individuals are really pulling together and donating, especially when times are so tight for many people.
That’s very nice and all, but I read somewhere that this telethon is being called George Clooney’s Hope for Haiti Now Telethon. Seems a bit arrogant that he would have to put his name in it and call it after himself. That one is for you, Ben. 😉
I kinda of agree with the idea that if you are in the telethon you have to donate a certain amount. I think it is great they are doing a telethon, but if you are going to ask me to donate you should be too!
Glad to hear of all the stars donating 1,000,000 dollars. That is fantastic, but didn’t Madonna only donate 250,000?
good for them
That is truly wonderful. I really respect them for that.
I’m with Dorothy; I love the idea of the celebrities having to pay an entrance fee. Maybe not a million, but something substantial to say “we’re not just expecting you all to donate”. Since we’re working and can’t watch tonight, all the girls at my club are donating our bartending tips from the night. At least tonight men will ogle our goodies for a good cause!
Kudos to George and Leonardo! The poor people in Haiti need as much help as possible. It will probably take years for them to rebuild. It seems like they are always being hit by hurricanes on a regular basis.
It’s always nice when those who are much more fortunate go the extra mile to be generous to the less fortunate. Caring about your fellow man “never goes out of style”. These guys simply “rock” both on and off the screen. Now I’ll see what I can scrap up!
Cool! I always hate it when I see news about some big-name celeb donating like 50k or 100k…it’s like, okay, you just made 40-mil on your last movie, and that’s your donation, seriously? So yeah, props to Leo and Clooney.
Good!! Get 98 more celebrities and the government won’t be throwing another 100MILLION to them that we don’t really have anyway…
I am just curious, this is of course fantastic, however was there a telethon for Katrina? Truthfully i cannot remember.
Scotchy —
Yes, there was!!
That is when the irrepressible KANYE WEST first dazzled us with his natural charm.
Standing next to a totally blindsided Mike Meyers, Mr. West improvised with —
“George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
This is part of the reason why he is rumored to have not been invited to tonight’s telethon.
Justice, thy name is karma.
And kudos to these gentlemen, and ALL who gave/will give.
Anyone watch the telethon? It was good. Justin Timberlake, who I’m usually so-so on, was amazing, as were several others. I pre-ordered the album from itunes.
I chose to donate directly to the charities, but I hope the telethon did well. These charities are going to need support for a long time, in Haiti and the rest of the world.
big kudos to george for donating and using his clout to pull the event together. i think it’s ok when the stars announce their donations in terms of “here’s what i’m doing, now your turn!” for an event. it brings more publicity to the event. i think the brange got criticized b/c there was no telethon yet, it came off like they were heads of state or something, and the brange annoys some people with their humanitarianism b/c many people see it as self-serving, whereas clooney or leo doing something charitable doesnt seem to be received that way so much.
i think it’s cool that they’re giving a bunch, and celebs can’t donate millions every time something crappy happens, but i do think expecting them to give according to their means is appropriate – they’re just actors – they’re not wealthy b/c theyre performing life-saving surgery or researching the cure for cancer – and the money they have comes directly from sales of stuff to you and me, so i dont have a problem with the donation expectations on them being fairly high. also, dont forget these donations make for HUGE tax deductions. i have to admit, from the likes of clooney and leo, i think one million is good, not great. the brange is worth 250-300 million alone. they could donate 20 mil, get a GIANT tax deduction, and easily make that 20 mil back in ONE YEAR anyway. i mean, these are folks who are currently going to awards shows wearing over one mil in jewels alone – EACH. im not shitting on folks for donating, im just saying let’s keep in mind just how wealthy some of these folks are and not feel badly about keeping the bar high for them.
also, its not just the actors – folks like, say, john edwards, the kerry/heinz family, etc – have loads of cash. maybe they donate quietly, who knows.