Posted on 03/16/2006 5:50:51 AM PST by COUNTrecount
LOS ANGELES - Maybe George Clooney feels that taking home an Oscar was enough.
The winner of the Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in "Syriana" has donated his decadent Oscar gift bag to the United Way, a spokeswoman for the organization said Wednesday.
The loot will be sold in an online auction to benefit the United Way Hurricane Response and Relief Recovery Fund, said spokeswoman Sheila Consaul. Clooney is a member of the charity's board of trustees, she said.
"This refocuses people back to the long-term nature of hurricane recovery efforts," she said.
The gift bag given to presenters at the 78th Annual Academy Awards includes a BlackBerry 8700c, a Kay Unger kimono and a cultured Tahitian-pearl necklace, among other items.
The entire collection will be sold to "one very, very lucky bidder," Consaul said.
The auction will begin March 21 on the United Way Web site.
The winning bidder will also receive a handwritten thank-you note from Clooney acknowledging the donation to hurricane relief, Consaul said.
He is SOOOOOOOO generous and compassionate.
Think of that... he gave away his swag bag!
Man, what a generous and compassionate person.
And he did it publically too. So that nobody might doubt just how generous and compassionate he is. He should run for governor of California. Wow. What a generous and compassionate guy.
Did I mention how generous and compassionate he is?
Clooney is one of the worst actors I have ever seen...
>>"This refocuses people back to the long-term nature of hurricane recovery efforts," she said.<<
What a bunch of self-important garbage...as if everyone sets their watch to what George C. Looney does.
What a swell, self-sacrificing guy he is! Brave, too. (He told us so himself.)
Well that cost him some money. Sarcasm.
Could this generous gesture have anything to do with the IRS scrutinizng those who accept freebies? Nahhhh (sarcasm).
Isn't this the guy who offered to help his father get elected to public office??? What ever happened anyway? Did he help much?
It's the United Way. They'll keep the most expensive items for themselves and distribute the stuff they don't want.
I wonder why he didn't include the Oscar.
The first year that the IRS starts talking about such things being taxable just happens to be the very same year that George C. Looney decides to get generous.
Amazing coincidence, no?
When they found out they had to declare the $100,000 worth of stuff on their tax returns they went into shock. Clooney just didn't want to pay the tax on it.
I gave away five really nice golf bags to charity...prizes from golf tournaments.
Where's my headline!!!!
Oh...they didn't cost me anything. Didn't cost Looney, either.
He'll need to spend a few weeks in his villa in Italy to get over the pain.
Well, doing it publicly will drive up the price - anybody can buy a Blackberry, but there are people (I'm not one) who would pay extra to get one George Clooney had breathed on. Oooh! maybe he even TOUCHED it!!!
My first thought was, is he too lazy to find a real charity? That's all United Way is good for.
O.K., so this looks like a self-serving public gesture. But what are the rest of them doing with their bags? The bottom line is that he's getting money to hurricane relief. He deserves some credit.
Let's see him donate his pay for a movie...something that (he, anyway, would think) was earned. Then I might be impressed.
I give Clooney no credit for avoiding paying as much as $30,000 in taxes, but I hope all the rest of those who received a swag bag will also donate them to charity to avoid paying taxes.
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