Many stars in Hollywood live in their own world (where everything revolves around them, of course). Hollywood is known for its self-centered residents that provide us “civilians” with countless hours of entertainment in both their professional and personal lives. They complain about their lack of privacy to journalists, all the while using their personal lives to connect with us (I’m looking at you, Jennifer Aniston!) as they shamelessly promote any upcoming movie, CD or television show.
There comes a time, however, when there are civilians in desperate need of help and Hollywood proves that there really is a smidge of compassion behind its plastic facade. Hurricane Katrina brought out some of the most horrific and evil sides of some people down in the Gulf Coast region, and the most generous and loving sides of others 2,000 miles away.
Many celebrities came to the aid of the hundreds of thousands who lost not only their houses, but life as they knew it. Celebrities such as Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria to the scarily emaciated (and getting even skinnier, if at all possible) Nicole Richie to country crooner Tim McGraw all donated their time to make public service announcements. Singer Macy Gray raised the bar by donating her time and actually going to where she was needed – the Astrodome, where thousands upon thousands of Katrina’s victims kept dry.
Telethons also played a big part in raising money for the needy, and who better to get people to call in to donate than the stars? That’s why celebrities such as Ludacris, Green Day, Usher, Alicia Keys and John Mellencamp showed up to help. But of course, these live telethons didn’t go without controversy, as celebrities often attempt to focus the attention on themselves as much as possible. Cue: Kanye West. Although he spoke from the heart (and said things you know you were thinking as well), he tore this already divided country even further apart by making this disaster about race.
“I hate the way they portray us in the media,” West said during the live broadcast. “If you see a black family, it says they’re looting. If you see a white family, they’re looking for food,” adding that America is set up “to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible.”
“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” West said as comedian Mike Myers looked at him in shock. Immediately, cameras cut to comedian Chris Tucker and West’s comments were cut from the West Coast airing of the NBC telecast.
Of course, the queen of “look-at-me!” Britney Spears didn’t let down the people of her home state of Louisiana. According to contactmusic.com, the paparazzi princess is planning on airing the birth of her first child and will donate any profits she receives to the victims of Katrina’s wrath. She reportedly nixed the idea at first, but since the disaster struck so close to home, she reconsidered and networks are now allegedly locked in a bidding war for this intimate moment.
A source tells the British newspaper the Sunday Star that “all she’s concerned about is that the program is tastefully done and she gets her privacy.” Yeah, Britney, what a wonderful way to protect your privacy. Why not just take husband Kevin Federline’s monthly allowance away and give that to those in need? Oh, right. Because you guys need your Venti Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccinos. Silly me.
Many celebrities, however, opened their wallets immediately to help in the disaster relief. Millionaires hundreds of times over Jay-Z and Diddy jointly announced their donations of $1 million, and so did Nicolas Cage and Celine Dion. Poptart Hilary Duff pledged $250,000 to various hurricane charities (and got the upper hand on Lindsay Lohan, who, according to the New York Post’s Page Six, bought a 1.9 million dollar house overlooking Hollywood’s Sunset Strip that weekend. Lohan did, however, appear on a telethon for NBC’s relief efforts).
Louisiana native Ellen DeGeneres, whose 82-year-old aunt, cousins and friends had their homes destroyed, devoted the first show of her Emmy Award-winning talk show’s third season to a discussion on the destruction. The show’s producer, Warner Bros. Entertainment, said it would donate $500,000 to the American Red Cross and promised to match viewers’ contributions up to another half a million dollars.
Perhaps the most generous donation by a celebrity was not by an A-list star. Best-selling novelist John Grisham and his wife donated $5 million to a relief fund they set up to aid those in Mississippi, where Grisham once served as state legislator.
“We don’t normally publicize gifts. It’s something we keep extremely private,” Grisham said during a conference call with the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and officials with BancorpSouth. “But in these very, very rare circumstances this tragic time we hope the gift will get some attention and inspire other people to contribute money and help our fellow Mississippians on the Gulf Coast,” said Grisham, who maintains a home in Oxford, Miss., according to the Associated Press.
NBC late-night talk show host Jay Leno is also doing his share by teaming up with Harley-Davidson once again to aid in raising money for Katrina’s victims. On Sept. 6, Leno began asking his famous guests to sign a motorcycle to be put up on Internet auction site eBay later this month. Earlier this year, Leno raised $810,000 for tsunami victims in Asia by asking guests such as Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Dustin Hoffman to sign a Harley-Davidson cycle that was also put on eBay.
Because of what could arguably be called the most devastating natural disaster to ever occur on U.S. soil, many generous members of Hollywood used their talents and their pocketbooks to aid in the relief. But I’m sure it won’t be long until more important things, like the beginning of television’s fall season, will come back into focus. And that’s a real devastation.

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