Celebs In Africa, Part 258 / Stereohyped

Celebs In Africa, Part 258

Ben Affleck recently made several trips to the war-ravaged Congo, where he spoke with conflict survivors, aid workers, and warlords. Footage of his experiences will air in a Nightline special tonight. Affleck said the trip was a personal journey and he doesn't intend for the special to be preachy. "I don't think people respond particularly well to being hectored, or being made to feel guilty, or being made to feel as though they're kind of callow or insensitive for the life they've been leading up until then," he said. [People]

Jun 26, 2008 · posted by Lauren Williams, Stereohyped · Link · 7 Responses

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Tagged: Ben Affleck, Congo

Comments (7)

No. 1 · rantmagazine.boohoo

Hmmm, well, it's still a publicity stunt.

Posted: Jun 26, 2008 at 11:08 am

No. 2 · Ike

Yawn….

Posted: Jun 26, 2008 at 1:19 pm

No. 3 · daria from Gorgeous Black Women

There are better ways to get publicity than going to Congo. You wouldn't catch me setting a foot there. It's like saying that one went to Iraq for a publicity stunt. There are far easier, more effective ways to get publicity. And on Nightline with their 14 viewers? LMAO.

This is one of those "good intentions" things. He seems to be taking a page out of the Brad Pitt book of celebrity… a decade too soon but whatever.

Posted: Jun 26, 2008 at 4:36 pm

No. 4 · Chic Noir

I love Nightline. I will be up to see this. Daria you are not lying, Congo is not a joke. If he wanted publicity he could of gone to Ghana or Sengal, the two are much more stable.

Posted: Jun 26, 2008 at 7:06 pm

No. 5 · sweett

I'm just saying, find it hard to believe it was a "personal journey" when he had Nightline cameras following him around.

Posted: Jun 26, 2008 at 9:42 pm

No. 6 · daria from Gorgeous Black Women

Chic Noir, he could have gone to frickin Cabo, kissed some brown babies and called it a frickin day. Ain't not Ritz Carlton in Congo. I am definitely not one to trash Africa, but lets be real: going to Congo for publicity takes a total lack of knowledge and absence of Wiki.

Sweeett, the point of getting celebrities to do charity work is to educate people and make it popular and to educate others. The bigger the star, the better. They make such issues "sexy." That goes for HIV/AIDS (Elton, Liz Taylor, everyone and their mama), sick children (St. Jude's chick), refugees (Angelina), Darfur (Oceans 11 cast), Katrina (Harry Connick Jr, Robin Roberts, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Anderson Cooper), South African girls (Oprah), etc. I may not necessarily like the celebrities in question or find their approach constructive, but I'll give them props for caring because there's no way you'd catch me setting a well-pedicured toe in any part of Congo, Kibera district of Nairobi (Drew Barrymore) or any part of Iraq (Angelina). Not even with a camera crew, security and some rosary beads.

Posted: Jun 26, 2008 at 10:35 pm

No. 7 · Chic Noir

LOL@Daria. YOu know, I don't think the Congo will ever have piece for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is, the Congo is too mineral rich for the West and (now) China to leave alone.

Posted: Jun 30, 2008 at 6:31 pm

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