Did you watch the Emmys? I missed them, sitting in a car on the way home from the airport, but I have always had a l0ve/hate relationship with awards shows. Hate the endless nature of the shows with brainless filler and even more brainless skits and poorly shot musical numbers. I do, however, kinda love the gathering of folks in an industry to which we tend to feel more connected than most. We feel like we know celebrities more than we actually do since we’ve seen them in our living rooms or blown up to 40 feet tall during intimate and vulnerable moments. Flip the coin again and I kinda hate rambling speeches and music playing people off before they’ve even begun to be gracious.
I was pretty darn pleased with George Clooney‘s speech at Sunday’s awards, that I just watched online this morning. When accepting the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, the always inspiring Clooney (who created so much of our awareness–still too low–of the genocide in Darfur, also created Not On Our Watch with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, and jumped in with his fame muscle power to initiate America: A Tribute to Heroes in the wake of 9/11, Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope in 2005, A Shelter From the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and most recently, the Hope For Haiti Now telethon.
His speech was brief, irreverent, and inspiring…like the man. “It’s important to remember how much good can get done because we live in such strange times where bad behaviors suck up all the attention in the press and the people who really need the spotlight, the Haitians, the Sudanese, the people in the Gulf Coast… Pakistan, they can’t get any [press].
When the disaster happens, everybody wants to help, everybody in this room wants to help, everybody at home wants to help. The hard part is seven months later, five years later, when we’re on to a new story…honestly, we fail at that, most of the time. That’s the facts.
I fail at that.
So here’s hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heartbreaking situations that continue to be heartbreaking long after the cameras go away. That would be an impressive accomplishment. Thank you.”
Change by Doing 
Posted by ninjawiththeorangetshirt on August 31, 2010 at 12:00 PM
Smile. 🙂
http://ninjawiththeorangetshirt.wordpress.com/
Posted by fashion clothes on August 31, 2010 at 7:27 PM
like this
Posted by David on September 1, 2010 at 7:36 AM
You want to see a “Cause” worthwhile then visit: http://www.forantonia.com
This one will never see the kind of attention George Clooney is aware of. It is sad but true.
A concerned husband.
Posted by CrystalSpins on August 31, 2010 at 12:02 PM
So refreshing that he is really trying to help people instead of getting all tangled in the hate spreading that other celebrities do to “create awareness.” You go, George!
Crystal
http://www.crystaspins.com
Posted by David on September 1, 2010 at 6:31 AM
I agree totally. If you want to make change. You have to act.
Posted by Paul on August 31, 2010 at 12:30 PM
It’s not often a celebrity takes the limelight and redirects is from him/herself to all the pain and suffering in the world and how much we forget once the cameras are gone. What a blessing he was to that show and to the world
Posted by amybeth1 on August 31, 2010 at 12:32 PM
He has always been a humanitarian!
Posted by TexasCommentator on August 31, 2010 at 12:42 PM
To me the hero’s in life are not found in grand churches with self-serving, self-centered Pastors, Ministers, Priests and Rabbi’s bragging of their exclusive connection to God . It is found in the small community groups of bible studing, down to earth groups of individuals, who gather to learn, share their experiences, and help each other though the difficulties of this world each week. These are the individuals who do the “Walk” each day, without the “Talk.”
Posted by She.Is.Just.A.Rat on August 31, 2010 at 12:46 PM
It’s appreciated to see when celebs of George’s caliber are true…they don’t just put the act on. Good for George…and good for you for letting us all know about it.
Posted by bmj2k on August 31, 2010 at 12:53 PM
Not everyone agrees with is politics but that speech transcends politics. Too bad Lindsey Lohan’s next breakdown will knock him out of the headlines.
Posted by thejamminjabber on August 31, 2010 at 12:57 PM
Gotta love Cloone Dog. He’s a gentleman and a scholar.
Posted by The Zen Assassin on August 31, 2010 at 1:09 PM
I have to admit, I’m not the biggest Clooney fan (as an actor) but as an actual caring person he’s pretty solid.
Cheers!
Posted by binabona on August 31, 2010 at 1:12 PM
I agree. George Clooney did a great job, and honestly I never got the impression that either he or members of his “crew” like Brad Pitt did anything not straight from their hearts. 🙂 -http://ipeoplewatch.wordpress.com/
Posted by notesfromrumbleycottage on August 31, 2010 at 1:13 PM
If only that spirit of giving was more predominent…
Posted by andydbrown on August 31, 2010 at 1:18 PM
Interesting post! Congrats on being freshly pressed! One thing I’m confused about though. You mentioned that his speech was “irreverent”. When I hear/read this word, I normally think “blasphemous, profane or sacreligious” but I read nothing of the sort in the part that you quoted. What do/did you find irreverent about his speech?
Posted by lifeintheboomerlane on August 31, 2010 at 1:20 PM
I heard Clooney speak. I admire him tremendously for what he does, and even more for his doing it out of the spotlight. His speech was perfect Clooney: said quietly, honestly, powerfully, and with total conviction. He is the definition of a humanitarian.
Posted by earthymind on August 31, 2010 at 1:26 PM
Have always been in awe of George Clooney…this just adds up to the amazing things about him!!! he has this global appeal,and making great use of the fact….
Posted by newsbyphotos on August 31, 2010 at 1:42 PM
Amen, brother
http://newsbyphotos.com/2008/12/20/how-to-have-your-best-year-ever/
Be the Change.
Posted by Jeanette Åsén on August 31, 2010 at 2:31 PM
That´s just great and so true !
Posted by dawneatscake on August 31, 2010 at 2:41 PM
Thank you for sharing his speech. I missed the Emmys while working and didn’t know my favorite man (don’t tell my husband) was there and honored. George is such a classy guy. Sigh…
Posted by when i was 8 i wanted to be.... on August 31, 2010 at 2:51 PM
It is good to see the celebs of this world doing what many others do day and daily. George is walking the walk, not just talking the talk.
Well done to him and people like Brad Pitt for his efforts to rehouse folks in New Orleans. I hope that everyone remembers that it is a long-term commitment that may be required, make do and mend is not enough.
Great Post!
Lesley
Posted by Jesse on August 31, 2010 at 11:06 PM
So true. Great post!
Posted by natinanorton on August 31, 2010 at 3:08 PM
The Emmys are pretty lame and overrated. I’d love to see the same attention and awards given to teachers, policemen, fighters etc.; people who make a difference rather than just movies and millions of dollars for a living. A lovely speech from George Clooney though, who is the rare exception. Just another great reason to love a very handsome man. 🙂
Natina
http://humansareassholes.wordpress.com/
Posted by crystalhaze on August 31, 2010 at 3:12 PM
It’s nice to see someone very influential people making speeches like that, maybe people might listen ( I hope they do!)
Posted by monica on August 31, 2010 at 3:23 PM
I’m speechless…what an inspiring message…It hit like a nuclear bomb! Hope this message gets to everyone
Posted by pbandchutney on August 31, 2010 at 3:31 PM
amazing words… let’s hope people listen.
Posted by sjwhipp on August 31, 2010 at 3:32 PM
I loved this speech! Glad you re-posted it.
Posted by ‘We Are The World’ For Haiti? Not For Pakistan? « Hafsa Khawaja's Blog on August 31, 2010 at 3:32 PM
[…] ‘We Are The World’ for Haiti, why have not international celebrities other than a few (George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Ashton Kutcher) and sportsmen spoken about or rallied for the […]
Posted by marinasleeps on August 31, 2010 at 3:43 PM
This post was great. Way to bring light on a needed subject.
Posted by hafsakhawaja on August 31, 2010 at 3:46 PM
My admiration for George just swelled in my heart! 🙂
Such an inspiring speech and I really hope people do follow his words for those suffering everywhere [ http://tiny.cc/6groz ]
Great post! 🙂
Posted by MuslimAct on August 31, 2010 at 5:23 PM
Thanks for the post! It serves as a good reminder that we all need to remember those who are suffering after the TV cameras have turned off, and the news stations have moved on.
Posted by Barbara on August 31, 2010 at 5:24 PM
Well Said! Well Done! Bravo to all of you who agree. This is how great things are accomplished. One person at a time.
Posted by Barbara on August 31, 2010 at 5:24 PM
http://supportivewomeninkalamazoo.wordpress.com/
Posted by sayitinasong on August 31, 2010 at 5:25 PM
Excellent speech from George.
Posted by Barbara on August 31, 2010 at 5:26 PM
For all women and men as well, follow this commnunity blog.http://supportivewomeninkalamazoo.wordpress.com/
Posted by John on August 31, 2010 at 5:36 PM
Thanks for the share.
Posted by Summer on August 31, 2010 at 5:41 PM
GC is hot and amazing!! and the emmys this year weren’t very special!! you didnt miss anything
😀
LOVE.
SUMMER.
Posted by mandymcadoo on August 31, 2010 at 5:54 PM
And here we all were thinking George Clooney couldn’t get any sexier…
Posted by culinaryspirits on August 31, 2010 at 6:54 PM
I love when celebrities use their, well, celebrity to garner attention for positive things. I hate it when celebrities use their celebrity to bash people politically and in other ways. (I pay these people to entertain me, not to tell me that *insert politician’s name here* is a piece of crap). I especially hate it when “comedians” use the stage to do so – that’s not comedy, folks, it’s ranting. So I’m glad that George Clooney is on the side of using his celebrity for positive things!
Laura
http://culinaryspirits.wordpress.com
http://vintageminx.wordpress.com
Posted by Jessica Rozitis on August 31, 2010 at 8:35 PM
I heart George Clooney.
Posted by Elbert on September 1, 2010 at 5:21 PM
I heart idiots.
Posted by culturecrusader on August 31, 2010 at 10:08 PM
Clooney is a liberal hack, just like the rest. If you are looking for moral or cultural relevance from these people or their endless, narcissistic awards shows, then I feel sorry for you. As I have stated before:
Having these self-absorbed glitterati play the role of cultural court jesters in America is one thing, but handing the entire kingdom over to them is quite another. Our culture, when you think about it, is all that we have. It is everything that we are about. It defines us. If we lose our culture, or if it becomes so base and worthless that it is as good as lost, then we are really nothing. It is a troubling thought that another age a thousand years from now may be bound to look back upon our own and describe it thus: “Never throughout mankind’s history have such a self-centered people congratulated themselves so much for so very little.”
http://culturecrusader.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/the-shallowest-generation/
Posted by eric on August 31, 2010 at 10:37 PM
Culturecrusader,
Clooney could just relax in Italy and sip martinis and read scripts.
Instead, he puts a lot of time, effort, energy, and resources into trying to make the world better. So does his father.
You, on the other hand, apparently enjoy labeling people (“liberal hack”) and generalizing (“just like the rest”).
Sounds like YOU are the shallow one.
If by listing your own wordpress blog in your post above you were hoping to drive traffic to your site, your lack of class, brains, and character unfortunately prevent me from doing so. Good luck with that.
Posted by culturecrusader on September 1, 2010 at 1:39 AM
Eric,
It is undisputed that he is a liberal. That he is an insincere hack is simply my opinion based on my sincere belief that all Hollywood celebrities engage in these activities primarily to burnish their own, carefully manicured images. And Clooney’s is about as well-manicured as the come. If you think otherwise, then you are truly naïve and probably would fit in quite well at an awards show after-party along with the other sycophants.
If these Hollywood hacks – these incessant self-promoters – want to really draw attention to a cause, then they should lose the tuxedo, roll up their sleeves and start going after the dictators, regimes and third-world mentalities that permit and exploit the kind of poverty and social disintegration that they so lament. Otherwise, spare me the sanctimony and speechifying.
-C.C.
Btw, thanks for the well wishes on driving traffic to my site, though I frankly don’t see what in the world you have to do with it. You see I have no compunction about promoting myself, the only difference between me and others is that I am no hypocrite about it:
http://www.culturecrusader.wordpress.com
Posted by eric on September 1, 2010 at 4:28 PM
“…then they should lose the tuxedo, roll up their sleeves and start going after the dictators, regimes and third-world mentalities that permit and exploit the kind of poverty and social disintegration that they so lament…”
So, I recall George and Nick Clooney traveling to Darfur to do expressly that. Have you gone ? Have you done anything other than run your mouth (via your keyboard) on the Internet ?
Obviously, you are the “sanctimonious” one, with your “speechifying” right here.
Some folks actually put effort into trying to make this a better world. Real effort. I guess some of them attend “awards show after-parties” also. One doesn’t necessarily preclude the other. And still others flame away on Internet blogs, and achieve little to nothing in their pathetic little lives. Which are you, culturecrusader ? Actually, no need to answer that. I think we all have a pretty good idea.
Posted by Elbert on September 1, 2010 at 5:13 PM
Darfur? Yes, I go there twice a year. In between trips to my Villa on Lake Como. (Note to self: Remember to fire the servants for using the silverware.)
To make a “real effort” to truly make the world a better place you need to kill the people who create these hell-holes. That means war, and invasion and loss of lives; you know, kind of like what we did in Iraq – a war which Clooney and his Hollywood buddies (along with the man who now takes credit for winning it) vociferously opposed. But that would require doing something unpopular which George’s image consultants would never let him do.
“Flaming” away? Are you sure you’re not talking about yourself, Er-ic?
Posted by eric on September 1, 2010 at 6:17 PM
You’re right, El-bert — we need to kill people to save them. How could I have been so wrong.
As Iraq now begins it slide into chaos — with no real government, no civil society, no electricity (!), a radical religious state rather than a formerly secular one, as civil war erupts, and it becomes its own little hell-hole, your advocacy for the $1 trillion spent there, accomplishing nothing, oh, except the 4,416 dead young men and women, the 100,000+ dead Iraqis — you’re absolutely right, El-bert, that “real effort” truly made the world a better place. I am glad that we got revenge against the country that attacked on on 9/11 (whoops, sorry, my mistake, none of them were Iraqi, and Saddam did not allow Al Queda in his country). I am glad that we found those weapons of mass destruction (whoops, sorry, my mistake, Cheney and Wolfowitz and Bolton made that up). I am glad that we brought democracy to the Iraq (whoops, my mistake, let the Shiite vs. Sunni civil war now begin).
I hope I can someday meet you and thank you in person for your support for this bright, shinning, glorious chapter in American History. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !
Posted by Elbert on September 1, 2010 at 7:20 PM
Awww.. poor little liberal Eric. Why so pessimistic? Worried your fellow liberals are going to get trounced out of existence in the November elections?
Without doing any research on your trenchant anal-ysis, I’m pretty sure you’re a little off on most of those sweeping assertions there. (E.g., calling Iraq -past or present- a secular state is about as accurate as calling Paris Hilton a celibate – past, present or future.)
You’re right about one thing though – we were waaaay to easy on them. And you should never do anything in half-measures. Next time: no more Mr. Nice Guy! That’s what I say.
As for meeting and “thanking” me, I’ll take a pass on that if you don’t mind. I know what you people are like and I’d just assume you keep your “thank-yous” to yourself, if you know what I mean.
Posted by George Clooney Challenges You, Me, and Hollywood (via Change by Doing) « Sail to Explore on August 31, 2010 at 11:01 PM
[…] Did you watch the Emmys? I missed them, sitting in a car on the way home from the airport, but I have always had a l0ve/hate relationship with awards shows. Hate the endless nature of the shows with brainless filler and even more brainless skits and poorly shot musical numbers. I do, however, kinda love the gathering of folks in an industry to which we tend to feel more connected than most. We feel like we know celebrities more than we actually d … Read More […]
Posted by Jesse on August 31, 2010 at 11:09 PM
So true. Great post!
http://www.bugagency.wordpress.com
Posted by Tweets that mention George Clooney Challenges You, Me, and Hollywood « Change by Doing -- Topsy.com on August 31, 2010 at 11:44 PM
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jessica Rozitis, Skot Nelson. Skot Nelson said: Hell, I'm as straight as the next due but don't we ALL heart Clooney a bit? RT @jessicarozitis: I heart George Clooney http://ow.ly/2xDNQ […]
Posted by thebigshowatud on August 31, 2010 at 11:54 PM
that was a great speech. it was short, personal, direct, and by someone many people respect. WIN.
Posted by thebluemind on September 1, 2010 at 12:34 AM
sustainability. it is the true achievement.
Posted by Princess Adora on September 1, 2010 at 1:43 AM
Go George!
Posted by No Big Words, Just Few From Heart on September 1, 2010 at 1:57 AM
All respect and love to my Man.. Clooney
Posted by legote on September 1, 2010 at 3:11 AM
See Kentucky Fried Chicken isn’t the only good thing to come out of that beloved state. We all need to contribute to the funds but also how those dollars are spent. Creating sustainable and regenerative infrastructure, which George and Brad seem to be into, needs to be the priority rather than just giving blindly to any aid organization.
http://www.permaculturerelief.org/
Here is a way to start to give people back what they truly need in Haiti, Forests of Food and organic agriculture in an energy efficient and sensible design.
Nice post
Posted by omar on September 1, 2010 at 4:00 AM
great post
Posted by tony on September 1, 2010 at 5:31 AM
ciao
Posted by World Wide News Flash on September 1, 2010 at 6:18 AM
George Clooney Challenges You, Me, and Hollywood « Change by Doing…
I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…
Posted by David on September 1, 2010 at 6:33 AM
I agree totally. http://www.forantonia.com
Posted by onepillawayfromchaos on September 1, 2010 at 7:33 AM
A man with looks AND a brain! Are there anymore out there? LOL Seriously, thanks for sharing. I never watch the awards because of reasons you also stated. But I’m glad you pointed out this inspiring speech. 🙂
Posted by David on September 1, 2010 at 7:34 AM
You want to see a “Cause” worthwhile then visit: http://www.forantonia.com
This one will never see the kind of attention George Clooney is aware of. It is sad but true.
A concerned husband.
Posted by seriouslyindependent on September 1, 2010 at 8:23 AM
I missed this speech but I have it pvr’d so ill make sure to watch that part,
its great to hear a speech so true and well said come from a celebrity!
I just hope he wrote it himself , from the heart….
Congrats on being freshly pressed and I like your theme!
SCB
Posted by candid_cactus on September 1, 2010 at 8:55 AM
Bravo George! Bravo! And the words sound even better when they come from your gorgeous mouth 🙂
Posted by ‘We Are The World’ For Haiti? Not For Pakistan? on September 2, 2010 at 4:59 AM
[…] the song ‘We Are The World’ for Haiti, why have not international celebrities other than a few (George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Ashton Kutcher) and sportsmen spoken about or rallied for the […]
Posted by Now, the International Community should DO MORE! « Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi's Blog on September 2, 2010 at 8:31 AM
[…] the song ‘We Are The World’ for Haiti, why have not international celebrities other than a few (George Clooney, Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Ashton Kutcher) and sportsmen spoken about or rallied for the […]
Posted by David on September 2, 2010 at 9:43 AM
You want to see a “Cause” worthwhile then visit: http://www.forantonia.com
This one will never see the kind of attention George Clooney is aware of. It is sad but true.
A husband
http://www.forantonia.com
Posted by Edi on September 2, 2010 at 7:07 PM
Go GEORGEOUS!!!!!
Who said handsome men are not intelligent and engaged in good causes???
Posted by Elgart on September 3, 2010 at 3:47 AM
Hope that speech will really prevail…
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