Saturday, September 5, 2015

Celebrities on Celebrity Involvement with Causes

 
There is an episode of Donahue in five parts on YouTube. The below was transcribed from part four. Guests for the show were River Phoenix, Lisa Bonet, Raul Julia, and John Robbins.

CALLER: What I would like to ask is how long have you guys been involved in such projects? Also, I would like for you to address the issues of celebrity involvement and such...such as we know that...

DONAHUE: Why...why don't you tell us what you think of that?

CALLER: What do I think?

DONAHUE: Celebrity involvement.

CALLER: I think it is very important I...I...I think that it, um, as people who are mainstream and seen by America, they can get the ideas out and information to people who don't know like myself and I'm very proud of them. I think these...i think Lisa has shown and River and Raul have shown considerable interest in today's society and I commend them wholly on it and I thank them as a young person. It's good to see other young people involved as well.

DONAHUE: Tell us about this, uh, it is true we are seeing an increase in the numbers of politically active celebrities with special skew to, uh, younger folks including you, Raul, I don't want to be...(laughter)

RAUL: I'm gonna take my tie off.

DONAHUE: Yeah, you better take your tie off. Speak about this and, uh, we've got some people looking through the blinds and wondering who is a hot dog and who isn't and do you really know what you're talking about if you are an actor. What do you really know about nutrition and vaccinations?

LISA: Well...well because we are people, you know. We separate the celebrity from the people, you know, and the thing about life here on Earth and success and glamour, you know and then you attain it and you're like "What do I have?" You know, do I have a healthy family? Am I healthy? Still our celebrities are dying of cancer and AIDs and of this and that. You know, we aren't separate from the realities and the fear that exists on this planet. And the reason why we are here as celebrities is 'cuz we can be here, where as some of these people here in the audience might not be invited.

RAUL: I think celebrity involvement takes, uh, has two aspects. There is the celebrity involvement of the celebrity that comes out into the public and doesn't know much about what they are talking about and they're there just to be seen and you ask them questions and they get (makes tongue tied sounds), you know. So they are there for their own celebrity. Then there is the celebrity involvement that is really committed, that really studies the situation and becomes a master of his cause. Then it goes beyond charity. It's no longer charity. It's a stand that this person has taken, a commitment. And that's what's gonna make a difference. Not "nice charity," "my pet charity" and all that stuff.

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