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Here's an article from E! about the Idol Gives Back show(s) and how much was raised on both nights. I think that total is even better than other telethons (even the long-running Jerry Lewis MDA telethon) make in a single night. Now I just hope 100% of that goes to everything they said they'll help. That's going to go a long way if every penny goes to help these needlessly suffering people.
The usual tens of millions of people voted for their favorite Idols this week, but it was the war on poverty that reaped all the rewards.
American Idol's special two-night Idol Gives Back event raised more than $60 million for charity, Fox announced Thursday after a week in which no aspiring pop star was sent home but the theme of making dreams come true was in full force.
The hit show's major sponsors, including Ford, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Allstate and ExxonMobil, pledged to match each vote with a certain amount of cash and, as of Wednesday, fans had shown their love for Melinda, Blake, Jordin, etc. by texting or phoning in a record 70 million-plus votes.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns Fox Broadcasting, kicked in $5 million after promising 10 cents for each of the first 50 million votes that came in.
Additional donations can still be made either via the Internet or through a specially set up phone line and the final amount raised for the recently formed Charity Projects Entertainment Fund will be announced on next Tuesday's show, during which the final six contestants will perform rock music with the help of guest Jon Bon Jovi.
Wednesday night featured performances by Earth, Wind & Fire, Rascal Flatts, Josh Groban, Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion (in what turned out to be a controversial pseudo duet with Elvis Presley), Il Divo and, of course, Idol's final six, who sang the new Quincy Jones-penned ballad "Time to Care" and then closed the show with "American Prayer."
Ellen DeGeneres, who said she would make a personal donation of $100,000 hosted the musical extravaganza portion of the event live via satellite from Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall. Ryan Seacrest held down the fort, as usual, over in Hollywood.
Celebs who appeared in either live or pretaped form included Bono, Madonna, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, Hugh Laurie, Helen Mirren, Eric McCormack, Teri Hatcher and a whole lot more, many of whom lent themselves to a montage of A-listers lip-syncing to the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive."
In fact, the night was so jam-packed with star power, two hours weren't enough to fit everybody in. Taped segments featuring Pink and former Idol guest coach Gwen Stefani were reportedly cut from the broadcast and will air instead on an upcoming episode of the ratings juggernaut.
The money raised from Idol Gives Back will eventually be split domestically among Save the Children, America's Second Harvest—The Nation's Food Bank Network, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the Children's Health Fund, and, in Africa, among the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, Malaria No More, Nothing But Nets, Save the Children and UNICEF.
The Bono-championed ONE Campaign announced that more than 70,000 people signed up for the cause after the U2 frontman's plea for more aid to fight "brutal, stupid poverty" aired Wednesday night.
This was a tremendous success, and I believe will be the start of a new and positive movement. More and more people are starting to get involved in charities, and when you combine the arts it can blossom into a huge and powerful thing. I applaud AI, Bono, Ellen, and all the others who are really doing a lot to help improve poverty in our world.
Greg - Ryan did mention the Elvis Estate at the end of the Celine/Elvis duet. Apparently, they approved the whole Elvis thing, which was a bit trippy for me, but a good duet.
Apr. 27 - The late Elvis Presley performed a duet with Celine Dion on "American Idol's" charity show Wednesday night, with the help of state-of-the art technology.
The late king of rock 'n' roll performed a hip-shaking duet with Celine Dion on Wednesday's show. The images of him seemed so real, many people were left wondering how "Idol" was able to bring him back from the dead.
Fans can thank technology. Last week, Dion spent hours on the stage singing her part of the song several times without an audience or anyone next to her, looking to her side on cue.
Then she did the routine again with a Presley body double who lip-synced Presley's song and matched his moves from his 1968 performance.
Finally, all three elements -- Dion by herself, Dion with the body double and the original Presley performance -- were combined through editing and a technique called rotoscoping, which traced Presley from the original footage by cutting him out.
"Rotoscoping allows you to take one image from a pre-existing piece of video and puts him a whole new environment -- completely new use of that same piece of video," Disney digital media designer Joe Husung said.
Similar technology has been used before. It brought Natalie Cole and her late father, Nat King Cole, together to perform "Unforgettable," and allowed Forrest Gump to talk to former President Nixon.
A new British show puts the technology to use every day in "Duet Impossible," in which stars perform with their late idols. If the concept crosses the pond, American audiences may soon see late legends like James Brown and Sinatra rocking the stage again.