(AllHipHop News) MTV Networks’ Hope For Haiti telethon on Saturday (January 23) raised a record breaking $58 million dollars in the effort to help the country recover from a 7.0 earthquake which has left at least 200,000 people dead.
A number of actors, athletes, rappers and entertainers took part in the telethon, which was hosted by Wyclef Jean in New York, actor George Clooney in Los Angeles and CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Haiti.
Over 100 celebrities participated in the event, by answering phones, appearing or performing during the telethon, which was broadcast simultaneously over 25 networks.
Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kid Rock, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Coldplay, Madonna, Christina Aguilera and John Legend were among the evening’s performers.
Donations continue to come in from around the world, while the Hope for Haiti Now album hit #1 on iTunes in 18 different countries.
The funds will be donated to Wyclef’s Yele Haiti Foundation, Oxfam America, the Red Cross, UNICEF, the U.N. World Food Programme and other non-profit relief agencies.
The numbers eclipse the amount donated to Haiti by some of the largest countries in the world.
A total of about $500 million has been raised by donors across the world, with the United States representing the bulk of aid money.
Neither Iran, nor Saudi Arabia has yet to donate a penny and India, which has one of the world’s highest gross domestic products, has donated $1 million dollars, the same amount as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Sandra Bullock and the NBA.