Latest in Causes

In honor of awards season, Real Time host Bill Maher affixed a special ribbon to his lapel and spoke out about an urgent new cause. “It’s time to raise awareness about a very serious problem: raising awareness,” he cracked in the “New Rules” show-capper, “We raise too much of it, and it’s making us crazy, anxious and…

Since Barack Obama has been in office, Hollywood celebs keep getting his ear for their pet causes. CNN is reporting that George Clooney paid a visit to the White House on Tuesday and met with President Obama in the Oval Office and discussed his recent trip to southern Sudan. Clooney said, “I think we’re very impressed…

EXCLUSIVE: Sean Penn won’t attend the May 20th Cannes premiere of his political movie Fair Game because, ironically, of his social activism. He has been asked to appear before a U.S. Senate Committee hearing focused on the crisis in Haiti. Penn has made himself a very visible participant in the disaster relief effort…

Fox' Idol Gives Back ruled Wednesday night. The 2+ hour charity special/Idol result show drew a 5.7 rating/16 among adults 18-49 and 18.4 million viewers overall. That is 16% down in the demo from the most recent Idol Gives Back in 2008 but up 3% in total viewers. (Fox expects the numbers to rise in the final…

Gotham’s Primary Stages wraps up its 25th anniversary season with a celebrity benefit stage reading performance that will be of particular interest to those who were fans of The Godfather and Oz. (I plead guilty to both). Tom Fontana, the creative catalyst behind the HBO prison series, has written Godfather IV. He…

NEW YORK, NY (January 25, 2010) – "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief," drew a cumulative audience of more than 83 million viewers and a gross average audience of more than 24 million viewers in the United States, according to Nielsen Media Research. The telethon has now raised more than $61…

NEW YORK, NY; LOS ANGELES, CA; AND LONDON, ENGLAND — (January 23, 2010) – With donations continuing to come in from around the world, "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" today announced that it has raised more than $57 million to date, a new record for donations made by the general public…

Liz Taylor says she asked for and received “one night’s dispensation” from the WGA so that striking TV and film writers could put down their picket signs when an AIDS benefit performance is held next month on the Paramount Pictures lot, according to news reports. Taylor and James Earl Jones are slated to perform one…

UPDATE: Here’s a YouTube 2007 video of Tom Cruise trying to dance in London. Did he have a stunt double do his rockin’ in Risky Business? It sounds like one of those hilarious Hollywood moments that you probably had to be there to fully appreciate. So, last night, Mr. United Artists aka Tom Cruise was honored by the…

OK, so now we know what ex-studio moguls do: they blog on HuffPo. If Sherry Lansing’s doing it, can ousted Viacomer Tom Freston be far behind? Sherry opines about turning 60. But there are some interesting Hollywood revelations as well. “I’ve always had this great fear that time would run out and life would have…

2nd UPDATE: *George Clooney spoke movingly and passionately to the United Nation’s most powerful body Thursday, saying the world would be blamed for another Rwanda if atrocities were not halted in Sudan’s Darfur region. “In many ways it is unfair but it is nevertheless true that this genocide will be on your watch…

Since the Brangelinas are donating the proceeds from selling photos of their baby, let’s consider this: that, for all of Hollywood’s wealth, glitter and dizzying array of charity events, its biggest names are largely missing from the list of America’s major philanthropists. Only two entertainment industry figures were…