George Clooney and MTV to Host Haiti Telethon January 22
George Clooney will host a telethon for relief for the Haitian earthquake victims. MTV will air the telethon and George is leaning hard on his celebrity friends to participate. Clooney told Roger Friedman that the telethon will air next Friday on all MTV channels.
George told me last night at a private reception for his movie Up in the Air at the Monkey Bar -- hosted by Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter and Paramount's Brad Grey. Clooney is putting out the call today to all his celebrity friends and performers to participate from both coasts on Friday, January 22nd -- and he's gotten MTV's Judy McGrath to agree to air the show on MTV, VH-1, etc. That may be one reason McGrath was a guest at last night's shindig.
Clooney, in a celebratory mood over Up in the Air, has gotten producer Joel Gallen, the guy who handled the famous 9-11 telethon on all the networks, to produce the show. At last night's party he started in by buttonholing Sting -- who came to the Monkey Bar with wife Trudie Styler -- to participate. Sting merely asked, "Where do I go?" and Clooney was off to the races.
No doubt George is working the phones now, lining up celebs to either perform or man the phones. Surely Brad Pitt will pitch in, but Angelina? Hard to say. But Jennifer Aniston manned the phones for the 9/11 telethon, we seem to recall so she might do it.
