Clooney vs. O'Reilly: Tsunami Showdown
One is an international superstar who makes women swoon. The other is a conservative commentator who last year settled a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by a female staffer. Put 'em together and sparks fly.
The long-running feud between George Clooney and Bill O'Reilly has reached a temporary accord now that the FOX News host has agreed to participate in NBC's "Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope" telethon, which the A-list actor is helping to organize. (It airs Saturday night at 8 p.m.)
On Tuesday, O'Reilly accepted Clooney's invitation to join the benefit and act as a watchdog to ensure the money raised ends up in the right place. You'll recall the two men have been at odds since 2001, when O'Reilly questioned whether the proceeds from a Clooney-headed post-9/11 fundraiser were distributed properly.
Last week on "The Factor," O'Reilly warned his audience that "if George Clooney and other stars go on TV and ask you to give, then they had better be involved all the way down the line [in tracking the donations]."
In a letter released Monday, Clooney called out O'Reilly -- and took a swipe at him for failing to get his facts straight. "First, to clarify, it was not the Red Cross but the United Way that sponsored the [9/11] telethon. An easy mistake to make ... if you're 3."
The "Ocean's Twelve" heartthrob also took O'Reilly to task for failing to acknowledge his own level of fame. "... I'm fascinated by your use of the word 'celebrity' as if you're not one," he observed. "You put on makeup, you do Leno, 'The Today Show,' go on book tours and do junkets, so let's be clear -- you are a well-paid celebrity."
He then laid down a challenge: "This is your chance to put your considerable money where your considerable mouth is. Either you ante up and help out and be that watchdog that you feel we clearly need, or you simply stand on the sidelines and cast stones, proving that your Jan. 6 TV show was nothing more than a 'box of lights and wires' designed to make you wealthy."
On his show Monday, O'Reilly said he was mulling over the offer but wanted more information, prompting Clooney to send another missive. "We're not playing games here. We're trying to save lives," he wrote on Tuesday. "It's as simple as this: You're either with this joint effort or against it."
Too bad the ultimatum came two hours after O'Reilly accepted the invitation on his radio show, telling listeners, "All right, even as we speak, NBC has faxed us over this 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," he said, according to published reports. "That's good. I like that. So I'm gonna go over and do it."
Clooney was reportedly "very pleased" by O'Reilly's affirmative RSVP to the star-crammed event.
Unfortunately, viewers who tune in to the two-hour telethon won't get to see Clooney and O'Reilly going mano a mano. The former Sexiest Man Alive will be in Los Angeles, while the pundit will broadcast from New York.
http://entertainment.msn.com/celebs/...px?news=178986




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