Haiti Still Full of Celebrities

Stars bring attention, money to island
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2010 10:20 AM CDT
Haiti Still Full of Celebrities
Angelina Jolie talks to a ten year old Haitian boy who lost a limb during the Jan. 12 earthquake, as she visits the MSF Hospital in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Feb. 9, 2010.   (AP Photo by Marco Di Lauro/UNHCR, ho)

If you'd like to spot a celebrity, forget Hollywood: Head to Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Though the media spotlight isn't focused there anymore, celebrities are still flocking to the country in droves. If you stopped by one school bus-turned-classroom on Saturday, for example, you could have seen Michelle Obama and Ben Stiller within the space of a couple hours, the Miami Herald reports—Stiller, it wryly observes, looked “like a lost tourist.”

That's a little unfair, since Stiller had pledged to build a school in Haiti before the earthquake made it a virtual red carpet. But even the newcomers are helping a lot: Susan Sarandon and Demi Moore have toured hospital; Sean Penn is running a tent city—locals jokingly call him the “mayor.” Besides, their mere presence draws attention to the crisis. “Angelina Jolie comes to Haiti, and the next thing you know, she's being interviewed by CNN,” says one physician. “How many people are going to turn on CNN to watch me?” (More Haiti stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X