Bill Clinton's Global Initiative Draws Unexpected Celebrities

By Jo Piazza Posted Sep 21st 2010 04:00PM

Few things give celebrities serious person street cred like attaching themselves to organizations that do global good. The grand-daddy of those organizations is the Clinton Global Initiative, which has in years past attracted the likes of Bono (and various other members of U2), Lance Armstrong, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, to their annual meeting at the Sheraton hotel in midtown Manhattan.

But this year's celebrity roster has been relatively sparse.

"It has been celebrity-lite this year. In years past, CGI has been a little like walking around the Sundance Film Festival. But this year we're seeing more serious heads of state and titans of industry and less rock stars," said Lisa Germinsky, the managing editor of Tonic.com, who has been diligently live blogging the event.

Latin diva Shakira and actor Antonio Banderas were two of the only celebrities confirmed to attend the event, which is happening for the next three days.

On Tuesday morning, rocker lady Avril Lavigne tweeted that she was attending the opening session moderated by former President Clinton.

"Really excited to be at the opening session of Bill Clintons #cgi2010," Lavigne wrote. Thankfully, her boyfriend, reality star and Olympic offspring Brody Jenner, was nowhere to be found.

Supermodel turned non-profiteer Petra Nemcova was also among the attendees, but more than schmoozing, she was promoting her Happy Heart foundation, which builds schools in areas stricken by natural disasters.

Ashley Judd was also on hand to discuss empowering young women across the globe. And Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore walked in for the closing session on Sept. 21.

But no Bono this year. He was otherwise engaged this week. Singer Annie Lennox couldn't make it either, even though she has been super involved in supporting CGI commitments this year.

Without the celebs, CGI seems to have returned to its roots of bringing together industry and non-profits to find new ways to do good stuff. It's nice to know that this one thing isn't becoming a commercialized celeb cluster-boink.

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Tags: Bill Clinton, Clinton Global Initiative

Comments

(10)

Tuesday 21 September

By Pilar

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I don't see how Antonio is going to attend this when he's in Spain shooting an Almovodar.

By Irving

We need to get women to empower themselves, to stop saying "empowering."

By irvinghotshot

We need to get women to empower themselves to stop saying the word "empowering."

By Apostate

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Less photo-ops hungry 'celebvocates' in attendance this year is certainly something to cheer about.

By Ed

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Clinton is a Putz

By MAGOOS

Whilst so called celebrities can use their clout in certain areas and many do it very well, its good to see the CGI attracting more of the hands on people who can make a difference.

By amy

^_^****'newhotbag'***High quality tton replica 'handbags' and other brands designer handbags are all here!^_^

By ajschrod

I heard Bill explain it on Leno last night, and was so impressed that I wonder why it hasn't been publicized more?! Clinton is truly the OTHER great President in 40 years!

By jeffrey lebowski

Clinton Global Initiative is just a front for stealing billions of dollars in the name of charity...anybody shows up for this thing is automatically filed under PHONY

Wednesday 22 September

By the Right Reverend Dr. Thurgood Goodlove

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