Hope for Haiti Now
Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief was a charity telethon held on January 22, 2010 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (January 23, 2010 from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. UTC). The telethon was the most widely distributed telethon in history. The event was broadcast from Studio 36 at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York and a private club, The Hospital, in London. There were also live reports from Haiti. Initial plans for the telethon were announced by MTV Networks on January  15, 2010, three days after the 2010 Haiti earthquake struck on January 12 that is assumed to have claimed the lives of about 200,000 people. The event was one of a number of humanitarian responses to the earthquake. Processing of the telethon's donations was in the hands of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. The telethon was patterned after the form begun with the 2001 "" program and continued with the 2005 "". Funds raised by the telethon and from the sale of an accompanying album and video, which was immediately made available for pre-order on iTunes, were distributed to seven non -profit organizations doing relief work in Haiti. Recipients. Funds were distributed to the following organizations with humanitarian operations in Haiti: In 2012 "The New York Times" reported that a forensic audit conducted by the New York Attorney General's office found that much of the money distributed to the Yéle Haiti organization from the telethon was retained by founder Wyclef Jean and his associates for their own benefit. Audience and proceeds raised. The event drew an estimated audience of 83 million viewers in the United States between the initial broadcast and web and mobile streams throughout the weekend. On January  23, it was reported that the telethon had raised over 58 million, not including corporate and large private donors or sales of the album and video. The amount is a record for donations by the general public to a telethon for disaster-relief. On January 25 the figure was revised to $61 million. Viewers were encouraged to donate online, calling toll-free (1-877-99-HAITI), by texting or by mail. Donations were accepted up to six months after the broadcast. Participants. Wyclef Jean hosted the concert in New York City, with George Clooney in Los Angeles and Anderson  Cooper in Haiti. Rihanna revealed on January 21 that she would perform a new song titled "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)", together with Jay-Z and U2's The Edge and Bono for the telethon in London. In San Francisco, Clint Eastwood and Matt Damon appealed for donations. Appearance order. The telethon began and ended with images of victims in Haiti. Presented in a format similar to 2001's "", the intervening two hours consisted of musical performances with speeches, reports from Haiti, and conversations between celebrity operators and donors calling in. Times in the table are given from the beginning of  the show (8 p.m. U.S. ET/1 a.m. UTC) and are based on the CBS airing in the US. Descriptions are mostly from the MTV blog. Locations of performers announced by "USA Today": Celebrity phone operators. Celebrity phone bank operators in alphabetical order (by surname): Discography. The digital album "Hope for Haiti Now" set a record as the largest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history, and became the top-selling iTunes album in 18 countries. The digital album has since become available at Amazon.com and Rhapsody. The album features 19 live performances from the broadcast as well as a  pre-recorded version of "Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)" and is priced at $7.99. The full two-hour video of the event is priced at $2.99.