Japan telethon (George mention)

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TV actor Masi Oka from ‘Heroes’ organizes telethon for Japan (video)
March 18th, 2011 9:32 am ET

Masi Oka, television star from Heroes and Hawaii Five-O, definitely has a vested interest in Japan. That’s because he was born in Tokyo and has friends and relatives living in the devastated country. Oka appeared on CNN yesterday to talk about his plans for a national TV telethon to benefit the people of Japan, and hinted that George Clooney might be one of the A-list celebrities who have already signed on for the national fundraising effort.

Oki explained to CNN that he had plans to travel to Japan this week for business, but those plans were altered after the 9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami. The actor's Tokyo-based family members are all well and accounted for, but a lot of his friends are still trying to track down relatives following the disaster. “I was very lucky,” Oka said. He decided that he could be more helpful in Los Angeles. “It was more effective for me to be in L.A. spreading the word to help the Japanese from the Hollywood side.”

Oko is working on a grand scale telethon and has already enlisted the support from several A-list Hollywood celebrities. However, the actor wouldn’t yet reveal who has signed on because he’s still in the planning phases. “It’s something like Hope for Haiti.”

Last year, George Clooney organized the “Hope for Haiti” telethon to support the country after the January 12th earthquake claimed more than 200,000 lives. The two-hour nationally televised telethon raised $57 million. Chances are pretty good that do-gooder George Clooney will once again lend his time and talents for yet another philanthropic event, this time to benefit the country of Japan. Stay tuned here for forthcoming details about the upcoming telethon for Japan.

Great find! Thanks for the update/news!

I hope George is involved - he's visited there a number of times as I remember.

I think that he'll do something, just not any major organizing. I don't think he'll put the film on hold to do this - way too much money for the studio to lose. Not saying that's a bad thing, just George's consideration of those involved and around him.