Affleck Uncovers Congo Crisis
Ben Affleck’s latest small-screen appearance is unlikely to turn viral, but he hopes it will generate just as much publicity as his Jimmy Kimmel-kissing last one.
The actor-turned-activist, who in May returned from his third trip to the Congo in the past eight months, will appear in a special documentary on tonight’s edition of Nightline to shed more of a global light on the often overlooked, yet terribly devastated, region.
“It makes sense to be skeptical about celebrity activism,” Affleck wrote in an online essay about his trip. “There is always suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause.”
Affleck, however, urges viewers to look past whatever they may think of his affiliation with the project and simply allow themselves to become aware of the nation’s plight.
“More than 4 million people have died in conflict and conflict-related causes,” the 35-year-old said on Good Morning America. “My suspicion is not as many people are aware of that as probably ought to be and if they were then they’d probably think of it differently.
“Part of these trips for me have been about a learning experience. I didn’t think I could honestly do anything until I understood.”
During his trips, Affleck met with people on all sides of the conflict, visiting camps for people displaced from their homes, hospitals, gold mines, United Nations “sensitizing” centers, which aim to reeducate particularly vicious members of the militia, and talking to aid workers, child warriors and warlords.
“I don’t think it’s an intractable problem,” he told GMA. “It’s largely ignored in some sectors…certainly in the West it’s a lower priority than other issues.”
The goal for Affleck, however, is not to simply bump Congo’s troubles to the top of America’s fix-it list but to “create a broader sense of solidarity with people in this country.”
“I do not believe that we live in boxes, separated from one another by imagined boundaries,” he wrote. “Congo is a place that deserves, at the very least, our eyes and ears.”
Jimmy Kimmel Hears Wedding Smells
If they ever do get hitched, it sounds like Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman’s wedding would be a gas. Literally, as it turns out. Watch this exclusive clip to smell what Jimmy’s cooking at the Taste for a Cure Benefit in Beverly Hills.
Goofy Guy Seeks Sucker-Punching Stars
We all take our lumps in life, and some people make the most of it. Case in point, Steve Harwood invites celebs to hit him with their best shot on his website, Famous People Punching Steve. Crazy? Yes. But quite a few stars have done it.
Silly Steve has pictures of him getting slugged in the stomach by the likes of Jeri Ryan, John Cleese, Daryl Hannah and Jimmy Kimmel.
But the one who seems to gut punch with the most gusto is Christopher Lloyd. (Our advice: Don’t mess with spacey Jim from Taxi.)
But Steve is always looking for more fun punishment, per this message on his Web page: “If you know a famous person (or if you ARE a famous person) who would like to punch me in the stomach, email me…”
Smooth move, Steve, proving once again that there’s more than one way to bust a gut.
Ellen, Tyra, Rachael Ray Share Daytime Emmy Glory
It’s going to take an armyor at least a stronger contingent than they’ve got over at The Viewto take down Ellen DeGeneres.
The master of witty self-deprecation won her fourth consecutive trophy for Outstanding Talk Show Host, once again besting Barbara Walters & Co. and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa, at the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.
“I never take this for granted…Every single year, I know people joke about it…It’s not what we do it for but it feels so good,” DeGeneres said while thanking her fans, crew, family and fiancé Portia de Rossi.
“We all know this has been a crazy year. On my show, we’ve done a lot of crying and a lot of laughing, and I’ve cried all by myself and people laugh, and then I cry some more…I know you’re counting me down but it’s the longest day of the year, I just read, so I can go on,” she continued, referring to tonight’s summer solstice.
The Ellen DeGeneres Show did not pick up its fifth win for Outstanding Talk Show, however. Instead, that honor went to the endearingly upbeat Rachael Ray, the first major win for the love-her-or-hate-her Food Network star’s syndicated strip.
Philbin, a winner for his talk-show hosting prowess only once in the two decades he’s been doing Live with Regis and Kelly/Kathie Lee, didn’t go home empty-handed this time around, either. The daytime stalwart was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his prolific career in broadcasting.
(Fun fact: The year he won, 2001, was also the year he snagged hardware for Outstanding Game Show Host for the eventually over-exposed Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.)
“What a night,” Philbin told the crowd after accepting his award from Jimmy Kimmel. “Tyra Banks told me to kiss her big beautiful and I found out I’m older than the Guiding Light.”
In the backstabbing world of soap operas (we mean on camera, of course), ABC’s General Hospital sewed up its record 10th win for Outstanding Drama Series, as well as a sixth Lead Actor statue for Anthony “Luke Spencer” Geary.
Jeanne Cooper of CBS’ The Young and the Restless, which headed into the evening as the most-nominated soap, with 17 nods, picked up her first win in nine tries for Outstanding Lead Actress.
“I only made up my mind to come on Monday,” Cooper said backstage. “I’m glad I did.”
TYATR’s Kristoff St. John also won for Outstanding Supporting Actor, giving the series three wins overall.
One Life to Live was the most-honored drama of the night with six wins, including Emmys for its directing and writing teams, and Guiding Light was second, with four triumphant moments to its credit.
Despite being all gussied up in Top Model mode, a more serious Banks won the inaugural Emmy for Outstanding Informative Talk Show, a new category that allowed the former catwalker to avoid a showdown with Ellen and The View, both relegated to entertainment talk show status.
Instead, Banks’ two-hanky chatfest beat out Dr. Phil and the dual PBS educational series A Place of Our Own and Los Ninos en su Casa.
“I want to thank Oprah Winfrey for her inspiration,” Banks said. “She is the queen. She will always be the queen.”
“They said that The Tyra Banks Show would last two weeks and we are enterting our fourth season this September,” the outspoken media maven continued.
“I just have a message for everybody out there: When you have a dream, there are going to be so many people out there who tell you cannot do it, that you are not good enough. And I want you to tell them to kiss your dimply, flat, juicy, bootylicious, skinny, jiggly, saggy, fat ass!”
Winfrey’s last win for hosting came in 1995, her fifth consecutive win and sixth overall. She has benevolently been excusing herself and her show from their respective top categories since 1999.
I’m not going to take my name out,” DeGeneres told reporters backstage. “Oprah has made so many bad choices. Look at her career.”
Sherri Shepherd and Cameron Mathison hosted tonight’s ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood where, for the first time, ABC arranged the audience Golden Globes-style at banquet tables. Footage of the well-fed and boozy good times is available for watching on SoapNet.com.
Here’s the complete list of winners from the 35th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.