Hollywood stars pledge help for Katrina victims
Hollywood Desk

Celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Master P and Dave Matthews are contributing star power to relief efforts for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
DeGeneres, a New Orleans native whose 82-year-old aunt, cousins and friends had their Gulf Coast homes destroyed, has taped an episode of “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” dedicated to discussion of the devastation. It will air Monday, the start of the syndicated talk show’s third season.
“We have a different show planned for you today because things have changed and we cannot pretend they haven’t,” DeGeneres tells the audience. “I can’t pretend to do a normal show.”
DeGeneres also plans to announce a hurricane relief fund. The show’s producer, Warner Bros. Entertainment, said it would donate $500,000 and match viewers’ contributions up to another $500,000.
NBC aired a heartfelt and dignified live benefit Friday night featuring some 18 celebrities, including Wynton Marsalis, Lindsay Lohan, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harry Connick Jr., Tim McGraw, Mike Myers, Hilary Swank, Claire Danes, John Goodman and Aaron Neville. It took an unexpected turn when the outspoken rapper Kanye West launched into a tirade about the government’s response to the disaster, claiming “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”
NBC eventually cut away from West and host Matt Lauer noted that “emotions in this country right now are running very high.” Then the entire ensemble performed “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Beginning Tuesday, Jay Leno will ask his ‘Tonight Show’ guests to sign a Harley-Davidson motorcycle that will be put up for bid later this month on the eBay Internet auction site.
Earlier this year, the NBC late-night talk show 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.
Master P, whose house in New Orleans was destroyed, has formed a foundation called Team Rescue to “save the neighborhood and rebuild our communities.” The rapper was still looking Thursday for missing family members in the New Orleans area.
The Dave Matthews Band, which has played at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, announced a Sept. 12 benefit concert in Denver.
“We’re just getting in line behind those people, getting in line a long way behind the Red Cross or National Guard, but we all have to do a little bit,” Matthews said.
E! Networks announced that it would produce a public service announcement to support the American Red Cross featuring Eva Longoria, Pamela Anderson, Destiny’s Child, Steve Carell, Nicole Richie, John Larroquette, Mariah Carey, Carlos Santana and Paula Abdul.
Larroquette, a New Orleans native, said Friday he would also contribute artwork to an online auction organized by actor Morgan Freeman.
“I feel quite impotent in this situation,” said Larroquette. “Since I can’t get down there on the ground and help ... I just want to help appeal to people to care about people in this country as we do so generously to those in trouble around the world.”
Alan Jackson, Keith Urban and Alison Krauss will perform a Grand Ole Opry benefit concert in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 27. It will air live on cable network Great American Country.
Velvet Revolver will play a benefit concert at the Orlando, Fla., Hard Rock live concert venue. The rock band had been scheduled to perform at the Sept. 9 opening of the Hard Rock in Biloxi, Miss. — which was damaged severely in the hurricane.
Jazz will also get into the act. Marsalis, Bill Cosby, Elvis Costello and
Diana Krall will perform the Higher Ground Hurricane Relief Benefit Concert for Jazz at Lincoln Center Sept. 17 in New York.
Many stars have also pledged money directly to the Red Cross.
Celine Dion and the partners of her Las Vegas show, ‘A New Day’— companies Concerts West/AEG Live and Dragone — pledged $1 million.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Jay-Z jointly pledged $1 million. Nicolas Cage, who has a home in New Orleans, also pledged $1 million.
The rappers said they felt responsible to give because many of those most affected are black.
“We are all descendants from each other’s families,” Diddy said. “When you hear black people say `brothers’ and ‘sisters,’ it’s really true. These are all people that I know I’m related to somehow, some way — the human race family.”
Cage’s publicist, Annett Wolf, said the Oscar-winning actor “wishes to help his neighbors during this most devastating time.”
Hilary Duff said she will give $200,000 to the Red Cross and $50,000 to USA Harvest, which is supplying food to shelters. The 17-year-old actress-singer is encouraging fans to bring canned food donations to her concerts.
Pat Sajak, who was taping ‘Wheel of Fortune’ in New Orleans last week before the show canceled early to get out of town, said he had donated $100,000 through the Lesley and Pat Sajak Foundation.
Some of the most visible work by celebrities will be seen on TV.
Jerry Lewis said his annual telethon for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which begins Sunday night (check local listings), would also include appeals for donations to hurricane victims.

Networks set September 9 for Katrina telethon

The six major U.S. television networks agreed on Friday to a September 9 air date for a rare joint broadcast of a live, all-star charity concert to raise money for survivors of Hurricane Katrina.
No details on talent were immediately unveiled for the show, dubbed ‘Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast’.
But plans call for an hourlong, commercial-free special featuring musical performances and appearances by leading entertainers appealing for cash donations to the hurricane relief effort.
The stars also will pay tribute to storm victims and rescue personnel who have saved thousands from floodwaters in the stricken region, organizers said.
The telethon will be carried live in the Eastern time zones by six major commercial broadcasters — CBS, ABC, Fox, NBC, the WB and UPN networks — and tape-delayed for the West Coast and mountain regions.
The simulcast, starting at 8 p.m. EDT, also will be made available to cable networks, radio stations and broadband Internet providers.
The event is being put together by veteran producer Joel Gallen, the man behind a similar two-hour special aired by the major networks four years ago, 10 days after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
That telethon, called “America: A Tribute to Heroes,” drew 59 million viewers and raised more than $150 million in pledges to assist families of people killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Separately, NBC was going ahead on Friday with its own live benefit for hurricane relief, featuring performances by Louisiana-born music stars Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis and Tim McGraw.
And numerous stars, including Mariah Carey, Julie Andrews, Pamela Anderson and George Lopez, will appear in a series of American Red Cross public service spots for hurricane relief airing on E! Entertainment Television, starting on Saturday.—Agencies