The Week in Pop Culture and the Oil Spill: Ebert Weighs In, Nemo Endangered

By Zach Dionne Posted Jun 18th 2010 04:45PM

A whopping 59 days into the BP oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, celebrities are progressively continuing to get in on the action, commentating, joking and commiserating. This week, Roger Ebert weighed in on his blog ("A great wound has been caused to our planet"), a new Twitter account appeared in the guise of a sarcastic and angry oil spill-plagued bird and -- sad news here, friends -- Pixar's Nigel the pelican and Nemo are in danger if these waters get much oilier.

"I follow the news, and a sense of frustration and futility grows," Ebert wrote on his blog this week. The impassioned post is titled 'Here's Another Fine Mess.' "I have no idea what to do about the Spill. Do you? Does anybody? We keep hearing that an enormous explosion could shift so much of the ocean floor that the leak would be plugged. That sounds like the system we used as kids to contain garden hose floods in a sandbox."

Our favorite fusion of pop culture and the spill this week? Spanish graphic designer Jose Antonie Avalos' images of an imaginary 'Finding Nemo 2,' set in an oil-ridden ocean. The images attracted attention from Slashfilm and TheDailyWhat (deservedly).

Louisiana native and 'Lost' and 'The Vampire Diaries' star Ian Somerhalder voiced concern with Hollywood's lack of aid for the escalating situation in the Gulf. "Coming from the entertainment world, I'm really shaken by how quiet Hollywood is," Somerhalder said. "And I say that out of respect for my peers and colleagues, but I'm really bummed that no one is really coming up to help the situation. This is ground zero right now. This place is going to need money, that is the bottom line."

In Congress, a Republican was ticked at people for knocking BP and a Democrat was a little upset with that Republican, but Jon Stewart was angriest of all and let them know it on 'The Daily Show.' See the clip:

In Big Boi's interview with PopEater this week, the rapper said he doesn't eat beef or pork and has leaned toward seafood lately in his cooking. "But it's kinda hard to lean toward seafood when you've got a big oil spill out there. You don't know what's gonna happen," he said. In a brief non-comment during talk of the World Cup, Helen Mirren told David Letterman that BP "stands for Bloody Piss-Poor."

Lady Gaga joined Korn's campaign for touring musicians to boycott BP. "From everything we're hearing about now, it's become clear that BP cut corners to put profit ahead of safety," said Korn singer Jonathan Davis. "The message we are sending should tell all the oil companies to spend the money and take the necessary precautions to make sure this doesn't happen again." Other artists on board include the Backstreet Boys, Rob Zombie, Creed, Disturbed and Flogging Molly.

Twitter has been a constant outlet for oil spill antics and rage since day one. Now both are combined in the name of Sarcastic Gulf Pelican, writing screeching posts like this:

"America is kind of going through the blues right now," Cyndi Lauper told Vulture. "To get our country out of the claws of companies is going to take a while. ... And the friggin' tea party: What are you going to be making tea with? Dirty water? You gonna be having any fish for dinner?"

Compared to the outpouring on behalf of Haiti, celebrity support for the oil spill catastrophe has been comparatively quiet. That may change when Larry King hosts a star-studded telethon Monday night. The June 21 event, 'Disaster in the Gulf: How You Can Help' (8 to 10PM EST), will include the likes of Justin Bieber, Cameron Diaz, Lenny Kravitz, Tim McGraw, Robert Redford and Ryan Seacrest, the New York Times reports.

Previously:
A Chat with the Guy Skewering BP on Twitter

Tags: BP oil spill