‘Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief’ telethon announced
According to MTV, the “Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief” telethon, to be broadcast on Friday, Jan. 22, has added appearances by Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Bill Clinton, and Muhammad Ali.
Among the other film personalities scheduled to participate in the telethon are Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, Brad Pitt, Anna Kendrick, Zac Efron, Bradley Cooper, Renée Zellweger, Chris Pine, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Colin Farrell, Gabourey Sidibe, and Emily Blunt.
Performing from Los Angeles, New York, and London will be Jennifer Hudson, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Sting, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna.
Anywhere between 50,000 and 200,000 were killed by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that leveled much of Port-au-Prince. Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.
Sponsored by MTV Networks, “Hope for Haiti” will begin at 8 p.m. ET. US networks participating in the telethon include ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1 and CMT, in addition to MTV channels worldwide.
In France, veteran singer and actor Charles Aznavour has stated he and several other artists will record a special music video, “A Gesture for Dear Haiti,” to raise funds to help quake victims.
George Clooney skipped the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s 2010 Critics Choice Awards ceremony to work on the planned MTV Networks telethon to help the victims of the magnitude 7.0 Haiti earthquake that killed an estimated 50,000 people and all but leveled Port-Au-Prince.
On Friday, Sandra Bullock said in an statement that she donated $1 million to help the Haitian earthquake relief, while Madonna announced she gave $250,000. According to reports, Bullock’s contribution went to Doctors Without Borders’ emergency operations in Port-Au-Prince; Madonna’s went to Partners in Health.
“I wanted to ensure that my donation would be used immediately to meet the needs of the Haitian people affected by this catastrophic event,” said Bullock in a statement, while Madonna urged “all of my friends and fans around the world to join me collectively to match my contribution or give in any way you can. We must act now.”
Not On Our Watch, an advocacy group founded by Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, David Pressman, and Jerry Weintraub, also donated $1 million to Partners in Health, while model Gisele Bündchen donated $1.5 million.
In addition, Pitt and Angelina Jolie have reportedly donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders.
Jan. 14
Evil, sinful, unAmerican, liberal Hollywood, in the form of Academy Award winner George Clooney, is working with MTV Networks to stage a telethon to help victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti that has left an estimated 50,000 people dead.
George Clooney is the top contender for this year’s best actor Academy Award for his performance as a corporate-downsizing expert in Jason Reitman’s comedy-drama Up in the Air. Clooney has been the critics’ favorite this awards season, and is up for both a Golden Globe and a SAG Award. Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick are Clooney’s Up in the Air costars.
As an aside: Just-plain-folks patriot Rush Limbaugh has said that Americans shouldn’t help out with cash because “we’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax,” while Christian TV leader Pat Robertson, appearing on The 700 Club, told the millions of Christian Broadcasting Network viewers that Haiti’s woes in the past couple of hundred years can be traced back to a pact with the devil made by its early 19th-century leaders.
“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about,” Robertson said Tuesday. “They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third [sic] and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘Ok it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another, desperately poor.”
Directed by Paul Haggis (Crash), “We Are the World 25 for Haiti,” a music-video fundraiser to help the devastated Caribbean nation, was recorded on February 1, 2010. The setting was the same studio as the original 25 years earlier, Henson Recording Studios, formerly A&M Recording Studios.
The new version of “We Are the World” features 80 performers of various musical genres and generations. Among them are: Barbra Streisand, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Hudson, A.R. Rahman, Harry Connick Jr, Gladys Knight, Patti Austin, Enrique Iglesias, Nick Jonas, Justin Bieber, Nicole Scherzinger, Jennifer Nettles, Celine Dion, and Fergie.
Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the original with Lionel Richie, is shown in a clip that makes it seem as if he is singing alongside Janet Jackson. Others include Miley Cyrus, Tony Bennett, Keri Hilson, Zac Brown, Akon, Brandy, Melanie Fiona, Mya, Musiq Soulchild, Katharine McPhee, Robin Thicke, Trey Songz, Faith Evans, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Vince Vaughn, Freda Payne, Josh Groban, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, Wyclef Jean, and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Whether the song itself makes you teary-eyed or nauseated, this is the place where you can make a donation for Haiti, where more than 200,000 people died following a devastating earthquake several weeks ago: https://wearetheworldfoundation.org/
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*last modified in November 2025.