O’Reilly Says Okay to Clooney
George Clooney can stop writing letters: He and Bill O’Reilly are finally on the same page.
The Fox News host has accepted Clooney’s invite to appear on the Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope telethon, set to air Saturday on NBC and its cable networks.
O’Reilly made the announcement Tuesday morning on his radio show.
“NBC has faxed us over information that all of the money that you donate to the telethon on Saturday night is going to the American Red Cross–all of it,” O’Reilly said. “I like that. So, I’m gonna go over and do it.”
Per Clooney’s rep Stan Rosenfield, “George was very pleased” with the decision by the object of his correspondence.
But due to crossed wires–Clooney’s camp was unaware of the radio-issued acceptance–George, a volunteer talent wrangler for the event, initially sounded very perturbed.
One day after addressing a lengthy missive to O’Reilly, in which he accused the broadcaster of undermining the telethon with remarks on his cable show, and challenged him to appear at the fundraiser, Clooney dashed off another note.
“We’re not playing games here, we’re trying to save lives,” Clooney wrote, reacting to O’Reilly’s iffy-response to the invite on Monday’s O’Reilly Factor. “It’s as simple as this: you’re either with this joint effort or against it.”
In a bit of bad timing, Clooney’s demand for an immediate “yes” or “no” was issued to reporters almost two hours after O’Reilly had accepted. NBC later confirmed the multi-media talker was on board for the benefit.
Although Clooney and O’Reilly are now comrades working toward a common goal, they still aren’t close–geographically speaking. During Saturday’s telethon, O’Reilly will make his appeal on behalf of those ravaged by the southern Asian tsunamis from a studio in New York; Clooney from a studio in Los Angeles.
In related news Tuesday, NBC revealed another batch of big names who, like O’Reilly, have agreed to go on telethon duty.
Clint Eastwood, RenÈe Zellweger, Ben Affleck, Meg Ryan, Morgan Freeman, Ray Romano and Robert Downey Jr. will join the likes of Matt Damon and Halle Berry as presenters.
Elton John, Annie Lennox and Nelly have been added to the cast of scheduled performers.
With A-listers in abundance, NBC has expanded the telethon to two hours. The show is set to kick off at 8 p.m. (ET/PT).
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