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Even though she hit the East Coast over a week ago, Sandy's disastrous effects are still lingering for millions in the form of lack of power, flooded homes, fallen trees, crushed cars and broken roofs. Although Hollywood itself has remained largely unaffected, watching the hurricane unfold from across the nation, celebrities from all over are coming together-and they're doing more than just the tweeting to East Coasters to "stay safe."
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This past Friday, NBC aired "Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together," an hour-long benefit concert whose proceeds help Red Cross relief efforts. Hosted by Matt Lauer from Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, the good intentions of the concert were clear, but the event itself was rather ironic because the majority of Sandy's victims weren't even able to watch the concert!
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The telethon provided emotional entertainment from New Jersey and New York-born comedians and artists, whose speeches and ballads offered comfort and hope to the hurricane's victims. Billy Joel, a current resident of post-Sandy suffering Long Island, N.Y., performed "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)," while Christina Aguilera, a native of hard-hit NYC borough Staten Island, belted out "Beautiful." Jon Stewart cracked some jokes about his fellow celebs at the concert and New Yorker Jimmy Fallon also provided some comedic charisma in hopes of raising money for hurricane relief. Jersey boy Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concluded the live broadcast with "Land of Hopes and Dreams," honoring all the individuals who helped others in the wake of the disaster.
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Sure, the clips of newscasters reporting during the storm or video footage documenting Sandy's aftermath were heart-wrenching. But it was particularly powerful to see celebrities who we usually associate with exclusive gated communities and multi-million dollar homes link themselves to their hometowns experiencing extraordinary disaster.
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Jon Stewart apologized to viewers for yet another telethon where celebs "very somberly ask compassionate people ... to give money for disasters overseas or somewhere else across the country." But this time, he argued, things were different: "You never think that it's going to be your home or where you grew up. And now that it is, I find it more difficult to [speak at the telethon]."
During this short hour, celebs stripped themselves of their famous titles and readopted their original personas-watching a performance of Bronx-born Mary J. Blige, rather than 'Mary J. Blige, R&B Icon'-making the benefit all the more powerful. I hope that other celebs-whether they actually hail from Sandy's victim states or not-take advantage of their influence and access to fans and encourage the country to, as NBC so succinctly stated, "come together."