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Sting performs at the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden in Octobert 2009.
AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams
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"This is apocalypse," Wyclef Jean says of the devastation in Haiti following last week's earthquake. Wyclef is one of three hosts for a "Hope for Haiti" telethon slated for Jan. 22. A reported 40 celebrities have signed on for the two-hour event, sponsored by MTV. Artists to perform include Bono, Sting, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keys.
The other emcees are actor George Clooney and CNN's Anderson Cooper. There will be broadcasts from New York, Los Angeles and Haiti, MTV says.
The show will air, commercial-free, on all the major networks, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CNN, BET, the CW, HBO, MTV, VH1, CMT and our network Planet Green, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Donations will benefit Oxfam America, Partners in Health, Red Cross, Unicef and Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation. Facebook and MySpace also are helping steer users to the telethon and encourage donations.
Wyclef has been fighting off accusations against his charity, including that it's only filed one tax return in a dozen years, and has used money to pay Wyclef and a business partner.
Wyclef is defending Yele, saying he hasn't personally benefited from the charity and is committed to helping the people in Haiti, where he was born. Yele has already raised more than $2 million, and MTV is apparently standing behind the former Fugee.
All of this while one writer for Reuters is telling people "don't give money to Haiti." Instead, says Felix Salmon, you should make unrestricted donations to organizations that do good work in Haiti and around the world. The Red Cross still has hundreds of millions in unspent dollars from the Asian tsunami that could be spent in Haiti and elsewhere, if the donations hadn't been earmarked, for example.
Good advice? Have you made a donation to Haiti relief? Do you plan to? Do you think a telethon is a good way to bring awareness and more help to Haiti?
More from Planet Green
10 Ways to Help the Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts
A Better, Stronger Haiti: Seven Ways to Make the Recovery Efforts Last
