Thursday 23 November 2006

Hollywood's most influential celebrity activists

Finding a celebrity with a cause is about as easy as finding a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles. Charities have long relied on boldfacers to help promote their causes. Jerry Lewis' annual muscular dystrophy telethon dates back to 1966. Sexy actress Brigitte Bardot retired from Hollywood in 1974 to devote all her time to animal rights. Sometimes their motives aren't entirely selfless. Controversial celebrities exploit charity work as a way to buff up an image, or perhaps even for tax purposes. Two years ago, supermodel Cindy Crawford earned scorn from animal rights activists for her decision to appear in a fur advertisement - despite having starred in a famous billboard ad nearly a decade earlier, sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which read, "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."

But these days, stars are committing far more than a donation and cameo appearances at annual charity galas as part of their philanthropic work. For celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio, fame is an influential tool that can actually shape policy. Celebrities, unlike average Joes, get their phone calls returned. Politicians want to be photographed with them. For some stars, that kind of access and face time can and should be exploited. "In my early 20s, I was fighting with myself," Angelina Jolie told Forbes back in June. Now, I take that punk in me to Washington, and I fight for something important."

The paragon of celebrity activism is Bono, the U2 front man who is rarely photographed without his trademark sunglasses. (Bono is a partner in the company that owns 40% of Forbes Media.) The superstar's fervent activism on behalf of debt relief for African nations and his efforts to raise awareness about the uncontrolled spread of AIDS there, and what he claims are unfair trade rules, have led to meetings with world leaders like President George W. Bush, U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. The Nobel Peace Prize nominee, named by Time magazine last year as its Person of the Year and rumored to have been seriously considered for the position of World Bank president, is credited as being instrumental in the G-8's recent decision to forgive more than $40 billion of debt owed by 18 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Celebrity interest in Africa has become something of a cliché these days, thanks to over-hyped events like Madonna's adoption of a child from Malawi. But that hasn't stopped celebrity activist George Clooney from pressing his case concerning the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. In April, he headlined a "Save Darfur" rally in Washington, D.C., shortly after he returned from a trip there, in which he had secretly recorded footage that could be used to document genocide. His celebrity clout earned him a spot alongside Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel before the United Nations Security Council in September, to appeal for intervention in the troubled region.

Some celebrities keep their charity work low key. Mariah Carey, for example, is a longtime supporter of the Fresh Air Fund and founded Camp Mariah in 1994, which underwrites summer camp for 300 boys and girls. But Carey doesn't bring it up unless asked. Last year, rapper 50 Cent teamed up with beverage maker Glaceau (in which he owns a stake) to promote the issue of childhood obesity. But odds are good you won't hear about that in any of his shoot-'em-up lyrics.

The converse of discreet activism might be best characterized by actor Sean Penn, who is vociferous in his campaign against the war in Iraq. The Oscar winner shelled out $56,000 in 2002 for a full-page ad in the Washington Post deriding Bush's policy in Iraq. Penn accused Bush of violating democratic principles there "through a blood-lined sense of entitlement". He also earned some scorn when he covered the Iranian elections for the San Francisco Chronicle last year. No matter, since his essay was the paper's most widely read story of the year.

Perhaps the most talked-about activist this year may be Michael J. Fox, whose advocacy of stem-cell research became national news after conservative talkmeister Rush Limbaugh accused the Emmy-winning actor of hamming up his Parkinson's Disease symptoms in ads for pro-stem-cell candidates in the latest Congressional elections. (Limbaugh later apologized.) To be sure, Fox got the last laugh, logging scores of interviews on the stem-cell issue right before election day.

(Forbes)



COMMENTS
There are not yet comments to this article.

Only registrated members can post a comment.
© MCArchives 1998-2024 (26 years!)
NEWS
MESSAGEBOARD