Entertainers’ Relief Efforts Get Off to a Slow Start

Hollywood is scrambling to figure out how best to contribute to relief efforts in tsunami-stricken southern Asia. But it’s clear that the catastrophe is prompting a more scattershot response than the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, after which the movie, TV and music industries banded together for an unprecedented international telethon.

Singers Sheryl Crow, Christina Aguilera and Tim McGraw have signed up for a Jan. 15 benefit for tsunami victims to be broadcast on NBC and its sister cable networks, including MSNBC and USA, but network officials said they had still not worked out many details. Actor George Clooney, who was closely involved in the Sept. 11 telethon, is helping to line up celebrities for the event, according to NBC.

“I wish I had more to tell you,” said NBC Universal Cable Entertainment President Jeff Gaspin, who is overseeing the special. “When you’re doing something like this in less than 10 days, it all comes together really fast and at the last minute.”

As it is, the NBC special will be jockeying with numerous other groups planning benefits, with the potential to create a charity logjam.

Willie Nelson will headline a country-themed benefit Sunday in Austin, Texas, with proceeds going to the American Red Cross, UNICEF and Doctors Without Borders.

Two days after the Dec. 26 tsunami hit Indonesia, Thailand and other countries, taking an estimated 150,000 lives, rock band Linkin Park announced it was launching a nonprofit organization, Music for Relief, with a $100,000 donation and requests for its fans to send money to the charity, which is relaying contributions to the American Red Cross.

Veteran singers Cliff Richard, Boy George and other British music stars plan to release a song to raise money for victims, the song’s composer told England’s Sky News television.

Infinity Radio Los Angeles is committing its eight radio and two TV stations in the Southland for a daylong fundraising effort scheduled Monday, with proceeds being sent to the American Red Cross. Infinity also will have representatives at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park on Monday collecting donations from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

And at 7 tonight, NBC’s 14 owned-and-operated stations, including KNBC in Los Angeles, will air a one-hour special to benefit UNICEF, with appearances by Sarah Jessica Parker, Tea Leoni, Clay Aiken and others.

Entertainment companies are stepping up corporate relief efforts as well.

News Corp., which owns the Fox Broadcasting Co., Fox News Channel and other outlets, gave $1 million for tsunami relief to two groups, the Salvation Army and Oxfam. The company is also matching contributions given by employees, according to a spokesman.

And there are more grass-roots endeavors. One TV agent who was in Thailand during the disaster has told friends to send relief checks made out directly to him, which he says he will disburse when he returns to the country.

“For obvious reasons, this is not tax-deductible,” Paul Alan Smith, an agent at the Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann Agency, wrote in an e-mail. “Rest [assured], I will document everything scrupulously.” (Smith confirmed in a phone interview that he wrote the e-mail.)

Meanwhile, actress Sandra Bullock donated a reported $1 million to the American Red Cross, and Leonardo Di Caprio, who filmed the 2000 movie “The Beach” in Thailand, gave an undisclosed sum to UNICEF.

And director Steven Spielberg and his family donated $1.5 million Tuesday to relief groups Save the Children, CARE and Oxfam.

“Although they generally make their donations anonymously, they are making this public to further encourage others to make donations of any amount to these and other organizations aiding the relief effort,” a Spielberg spokesman said in a statement.

The scattered nature of the efforts stands in sharp contrast to 2001, when an estimated 89 million U.S. viewers watched at least part of “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” which aired 10 days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The somber two-hour program, featuring appearances by such stars as Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Bruce Springsteen, was carried on 30 national broadcast and cable television networks and 8,000 radio stations.

The unprecedented international telethon raised more than $200 million.

That sort of unity is missing in Hollywood’s tsunami relief efforts.

“Nothing like that ever happened before, and I don’t know if anything like it will ever happen again,” Gaspin said. “9/11 hit us like a ton of bricks. This story [of the tsunami] grew more slowly.”

NBC was so eager to get the ball rolling on its tsunami telethon that it issued a news release Monday without even having confirmed any acts that might appear, according to two people involved in the situation.

Gaspin said NBC had no problem doing the special by itself, especially since its merger with Universal gave the network a chance to flaunt its broader reach through broadcast and cable networks. “We’re a bigger media company now,” he said. “We’ve got eight outlets to do this on.”

Others were more skeptical.

“I thought it was interesting it was just NBC doing it,” said one rival executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The executive theorized that other networks were reluctant to jump aboard because, unlike Sept. 11, the tsunami was “not an American issue.”

One philanthropy expert says it’s not surprising that Hollywood, which is known and sometimes ridiculed for involvement in causes du jour, is racing to help tsunami victims.

Celebrities “can be helpful, because people closely follow the stars,” said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a charity watchdog group.

But Borochoff added that actors and musicians sometimes lent their names to charitable groups of dubious worth. “I encourage people to not give money solely on the basis of a celebrity connection,” he said.

Moreover, he noted that well-known relief organizations such as Doctors Without Borders had said they’d already raised enough money to meet emergency needs for tsunami victims. Where money will likely be needed is for the long process of rebuilding devastated areas in the months and years ahead.

“It would be great if celebrities could jump on this after the story leaves the news cycle,” Borochoff said.

Times staff writer Elaine Dutka contributed to this report.