"Hope For Haiti" Telethon Airs Tonight

Hope For Haiti Now Telethon Airs Tonight At 8 P.M.


On Friday (January 22) at 8 p.m. ET/PT (7 p.m. CT), MTV's "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" will air across a number of networks, including MTV. Hollywood A-listers will join forces with some of music's biggest names to raise funds for Haiti after the devastating earthquake hit the nation last Tuesday.

Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks and Will Smith are among the many participants joining George Clooney (in Los Angeles), Wyclef Jean (in New York) and CNN's Anderson Cooper (reporting from Haiti) for the event.

"You got about 130 to 140 actors, athletes, singers and television hosts, and they're all coming up not to be on TV, but simply to answer the phones," Clooney told MTV News on Thursday. He added that the telethon's main goal is to "raise money, period. That's it. ... Just first and foremost that we can raise a lot of money. If I thought that we could all pick up shovels and go in there and not be in the way, I think a lot of people would do that."

The musical performances will include ones by pop legend Madonna (in New York) and Haitian artist Emeline Michel (in Los Angeles) as well as Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting in New York. In L.A., Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift will take the stage, plus there will be a group performance by Keith Urban, Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. London will feature Beyoncé, Coldplay and a collaboration between Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna.

"It's gonna be historic," Jean said about his performance at the show. "I have my sister with me, Melky, my cousin with me, Jerry. I have [producer/musician] Papa Jube; he's in charge of those traditional horns that you see. It's definitely a family vibe you'll see tomorrow."

Beginning Friday, iTunes customers will be able to exclusively pre-order the "Hope for Haiti Now" full-performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($1.99). Pre-orders will be delivered in the days following the telethon. Individual audio performances will also be available for purchase and download for 99 cents each in the days following the telethon. Apple, the record labels and the artists will donate their share of the proceeds to Haiti relief funds managed by "Hope for Haiti Now" charities, including the Red Cross and Wyclef's Yele Haiti foundation. Performances will also be available for purchase in the days following the event through Amazon's MP3 service and Rhapsody, through distribution provided by INgrooves.

Clooney thinks the opportunity to purchase the music afterward will help to extend the shelf life of the relief efforts beyond the one-night broadcast. "We're gonna have 18 songs, and you're gonna get to hear Jennifer Hudson sing a song you never heard her sing before," he said. "John Legend is singing 'Motherless Child'; it's just great. We're gonna have some amazing performances, and I think that's gonna make it last a little longer than just a telethon."

"Hope for Haiti Now" will begin accepting donations at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT on Friday. "Hope for Haiti Now" will benefit Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme, Yele Haiti Foundation and the newly formed Clinton Bush Haiti Foundation. Proceeds from the telethon will be split among each organization's individual funds for Haiti earthquake relief. With the exception of the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, each partner organization was selected for its history of operation and collaboration within the NGO community in Haiti.

"Hope for Haiti Now" will air across ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CNN, BET, The CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT, PBS, TNT, Showtime, Comedy Central, Bravo, E! Entertainment, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, G4, CENTRIC, Current TV, Fuse, MLB Network, EPIX, Palladia, SoapNet, Style, Discovery Health, Planet Green, CNN en Español, HBO Latino and Canadian networks, including CBC Television, CTV, Global Television and MuchMusic. The event will be live streamed online globally across sites including YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, Fancast, AOL, MSN.com, Yahoo, Bing.com, BET.com, CNN.com, MTV.com, VH1.com and Rhapsody, and on mobile via Alltel, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and FloTV. "Hope for Haiti Now" will also air internationally on BET International, CNN International, National Geographic and MTV Networks International, which is available in 640 million homes worldwide. "Hope for Haiti Now" will be available non-exclusively to all terrestrial radio stations around the globe and SIRIUS XM Radio as a one-time-only radio broadcast via the MTV Radio Network and Westwood One.

"Hope for Haiti Now" is produced by Joel Gallen and Tenth Planet Productions, in collaboration with Viacom's MTV Networks and George Clooney.

Learn more about what you can do to help with earthquake-relief efforts in Haiti, and for more information, see Think MTV. Join George Clooney and Wyclef Jean for MTV's "Hope for Haiti Now" telethon, airing commercial-free Friday, January 22, at 8 p.m. ET, and visit HopeForHaitiNow.org or call (877) 99-HAITI to make a donation now.



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Sources: MTV, CNN, Google Maps, Youtube